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Bangladesh plans $6.3 bln in development spending in coming year
Mon May 9, 2011 10:22am GMT
Bangladesh plans $6.3 bln in development spending in coming year | Energy & Oil | Reuters
DHAKA May 9 (Reuters) - Bangladesh plans to increase spending on key development needs such as power and transport by 31 percent to 460 billion taka ($6.3 billion) in the fiscal year that will start July 1, a senior official said on Monday.
Mohammd Shahedur Rahman, spokesman of the Finance Ministry, said the government will provide 60 percent of the funding for the nation's Annual Development Plan while the rest will come from overseas donors.
Rahman said that the power sector would receive the highest allocation -- more than 71 billion taka -- to help tackle the country's nagging power crisis. Other spending priorities are transport, education, rural development and agriculture.
Bangladesh's donors and investors have criticised the government for being unable to smoothly develop key sectors, which in turn has impacted economic growth.
In recent years, the annual GDP growth rate has been more than 6 percent.
The spending for the coming year needs to be endorsed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is likely to announce the national budget for 2011-12 in parliament on June 9.
The development outlay for the current fiscal year was set at 351.30 billion taka. But as it happens almost every year, a substantial part of the funds has not been used, mainly due to slow implementation of projects, officials said.
Bangladesh's farming sector has grown steadily in recent years. There have been repeated bumper rice crops, and total annual output has topped 32 million tonnes.
Planning Minister A.K. Khandkar said that 1,237 projects are planned for the coming year and they will be implemented at a faster speed.
(Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; Editing by Anis Ahmed and Richard Borsuk)
Mon May 9, 2011 10:22am GMT
Bangladesh plans $6.3 bln in development spending in coming year | Energy & Oil | Reuters
DHAKA May 9 (Reuters) - Bangladesh plans to increase spending on key development needs such as power and transport by 31 percent to 460 billion taka ($6.3 billion) in the fiscal year that will start July 1, a senior official said on Monday.
Mohammd Shahedur Rahman, spokesman of the Finance Ministry, said the government will provide 60 percent of the funding for the nation's Annual Development Plan while the rest will come from overseas donors.
Rahman said that the power sector would receive the highest allocation -- more than 71 billion taka -- to help tackle the country's nagging power crisis. Other spending priorities are transport, education, rural development and agriculture.
Bangladesh's donors and investors have criticised the government for being unable to smoothly develop key sectors, which in turn has impacted economic growth.
In recent years, the annual GDP growth rate has been more than 6 percent.
The spending for the coming year needs to be endorsed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet. Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith is likely to announce the national budget for 2011-12 in parliament on June 9.
The development outlay for the current fiscal year was set at 351.30 billion taka. But as it happens almost every year, a substantial part of the funds has not been used, mainly due to slow implementation of projects, officials said.
Bangladesh's farming sector has grown steadily in recent years. There have been repeated bumper rice crops, and total annual output has topped 32 million tonnes.
Planning Minister A.K. Khandkar said that 1,237 projects are planned for the coming year and they will be implemented at a faster speed.
(Reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir; Editing by Anis Ahmed and Richard Borsuk)
