Budget FY2021 Unseen costs in budget to rise 20 per cent

The government is going to increase by 20 per cent the allocation for the unexpected expenditures in the new budget amid the fear that the COVID-19 fallout will remain through 2020–21.

Finance Division officials told New Age that Tk 3,000 crore was likely to be allocated to meet the unexpected expenditures in the new fiscal year.

They apprehended that the current COVID-19 crisis may linger until the first quarter of the new fiscal year scheduled to begin on July 1.    

In the outgoing fiscal year, Tk 2,500 crore was kept as the allocation for the unexpected expenditures and the almost entire amount was exhausted in tackling the COVID-19 crisis.

Former caretaker government adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said that keeping fund for unexpected expenditures in the budget was a usual practice.

The fund is generally spent to meet the expenditures on account of unexpected events like flood, draught, cyclone and external shocks.

But, Azizul Islam said, transparency should be maintained while spending the budgetary allocation.

The Finance Division officials said that most of the unexpected head fund remained unutilised until 2018–19 as there occurred no serious adverse events in those days.

The finance ministry spent Tk 500 crore although there was an allocation of Tk 2,000 crore for the purpose in 2017–18.

In 2016–17 only Tk 29 crore was spent against the allocation of Tk 2,000 crore while in 2015–16 a sum of Tk 60 crore was disbursed from the allocation of Tk 2,000 under the head.

The expenditure and the transfer of fund from the unexpected allocation have  been on rise since 2018–19, they said.

The officials said that the unexpected expenditures allocation of Tk 2,000 crore was spent in that year to meet the increased costs of maintaining the law and order situation around the December 30 general election.

The disbursement of the fund for unexpected costs was made to meet about three dozens of needs, including Tk 331.70 crore for procuring the historic Rose Garden building where the ruling Awami League was founded in 1949 as the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League.

On October 31, the Finance Division released Tk 500 crore for post-service and welfare-trust benefits of teachers.

Finance Division officials said that the demands for funds by the police, border guard, army and Ansar and VDP for election duty surpassed the projection of the Election Commission by almost Tk 600 crore.

The commission had been allocated Tk 700 crore for holding the elections, including the Tk 400-crore fund for law enforcement agencies in the budget.

In the outgoing fiscal year, the government required close to Tk 10,000 crore additional funds to meet the challenges arising from the COVID-19 crisis.

Of the fund, it allocated Tk 5,000 crore for paying salaries of readymade garment workers for three months, over Tk 1,200 crore as cash incentive to jobless people and

Tk 200 crore for creating facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net