Covid-19 has hit the finance division hard as five officials and staffers are infected, hampering next fiscal year’s budget formulation process.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal is supposed to place budget 2020-21 fiscal year at national parliament on Budget Day on June 11. Five officials and staffers of the finance ministry have been infected while attending the office regularly for formulation of the next fiscal’s budget during state-announced holiday for more than two months.
Coronavirus affected Deputy Secretary of Monitoring and Implementation Division of Finance Ministry Dr Nasima Akter when her husband Utpal Kumar Saha — an additional director of food directorate under the food ministry — died of the deadly virus. Nasima Akter has also been suffering from the same viral infection. An officer of the finance division, who has been involved with the next year’s budgeting, said coronavirus is coming like storm to finance division. None of us in the finance ministry might not escape that Covid-19.
He said, "No one knows who the next victim is. Our colleague Nasima Akter’s husband died at Anwar Khan Modern Hospital a couple of days ago and many more colleagues are sick but they do not even reveal the matter and do not go to the hospital in fear of backlash. We want to finish the next budgeting process quickly but it is now hampered due to shortage of staffers during the pandemic.”
An official of the ministry said the Finance Division issued eight circulars ordering 75 officials and staffers to attend the office during public holiday. We have avoided budget consultation and line ministries’ budget rationalization meetings due to coronavirus pandemic, he pointed out.
“Administrative officer Habibur Rahman refrained from office duties on Thursday as his boss Deputy Secretary Mohammad Azad Sallal was infected with virus, the official said.
Sources in finance division also said the government is unlikely to get $2 billion dollar from development partners and global lender, if the budgeting is delayed by two months. According to finance division sources, the Deputy Secretary of Budget -10 Mohammad Azad Sallal tested positive for coronavirus two days ago. He looks after the budget of Anti-Corruption Commission and Public Administration. Besides, the Deputy Secretary Budget- 8 Mir Taifa Siddika, who contracted symptoms of coronavirus, is looking after information and foreign ministry. Administrative officer of same section Holawder Mohibul Hasan and his wife are now struggling with respiratory problems. They will undergo coronavirus test on Sunday. They have used finance division transportation. Administrative officer of Monitoring and Implementation Division Sheikh Aktaruzzaman had been infected and then after 15 days he was tested negative.
Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder has also admitted of the matter and talked about taking specific measures to tackle the situation. Over phone Health Minister Zahid Maleque warned that if there is the possibility to infect other officials and staffers in the finance division, the division may be locked down. But health ministry is now fathoming the coronavirus situation of finance division as they are now preparing next fiscal year budget, he said adding, “We have information about officers and staffers of finance division infected with Covid-19. Now they are in isolation.”
Meanwhile, more than 50 Bangladesh Bank officials and employees have been infected with Covid-19. Besides, so far 35 customs-VAT officials and employees, including a deputy commissioner of Rangpur customs, have been infected with the coronavirus. One of the revenue officers died a couple of days ago. In addition, several people are in home quarantine with symptoms, according to the Custom House and Commissionerate sources.
Meanwhile, the Open Budget Survey 2019, released a couple of months ago, was completed after coronavirus pandemic. Many of the lowest performers in the survey are oil-producing, low-income and authoritarian countries. Yet even among the OECD, which is generally wealthier and more developed, there remain countries including Spain, Hungary and Chile where budget transparency is inadequate. These governments have not established the basic institutional infrastructure to facilitate an informed public debate on budgets and to hold governments accountable for their budget decisions. This is likely to be worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic as some leaders may be tempted to bypass usual budget rules, and see public consultation as a luxury.
