The government has suspended the disbursement of locally-financed Tk500 crore allocated for development projects of different ministries and divisions under the Planning Commission (PC) as part of the austerity measures amid coronavirus pandemic.
Finance division on Monday (July 27) issued a circular signed by joint secretary Mohammad Walid Hossain to take necessary measures to this end.
According to the circular, the government allocated Tk500 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal year for special assistance fund (block allocation) under Annual Development Program (ADP) for ministries, divisions and autonomous bodies. Planning commission will suspend the disbursement of this fund.
However, the circular did not mention when the suspension of fund disbursement will come into effect.
The circular said, with the government trying hard to find out how the deadly coronavirus pandemic can be protected and its effects mitigated, bloc allocation in the ADP would be five times higher this year to help people save from harsher economic wounds. Therefore, the government increased bloc allocation this time to cope with the deadly virus.
This time, including local and foreign-funded projects, more than Tk4,026 crore has been allocated for this purpose, which is up almost 500 percent higher than the previous time.
A record amount of Tk5,796.17 crore has been allocated in the new ADP to address the coronavirus crisis. Three months ago, National Economic Council approved the ADP allocation at a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
