BD adopts $5.6b development spendings

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has adopted a 385 billion taka ($5.6 billion) annual development programme (ADP) for the fiscal year to end June 2011, a senior official said on Saturday. Out of the total spending 51 percent will come from local resources and the rest ... from external resources, said Musharraf Hussain Bhuiyan, secretary of the economic relations division at the finance ministry. We hope to mobilise around $3 billion in foreign assistance during the fiscal year to end in June 2011, to meet our development financing, Musharraf told Reuters. The comments were in line with remarks by Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith earlier in the week, who said Bangladesh would adopt a 1.3 trillion taka ($18.77 billion) annual budget including 385 billion taka ADP for the 2010/11 year, with overall spending 14 percent higher than the current years 1.14 trillion taka. Musharraf said the highest ADP allocation of 71.94 billion taka would go for the local government division, followed by 47.21 billion taka for the ailing power division, which was 15.88 billion taka higher than in fiscal year of 2009-10. The new ADP size is 80 billion taka higher than the previous year. The government every year prepares a development budget for improving the countrys infrastructure and social sectors, taking some projects under the ADP. The finance minister will place next years national budget in parliament on June 10 this year. Musharraf said the power division has obtained the second highest allocations in the next ADP in a bid to improve the electricity supply situation. The government is committed to increase the public investment in developing the countrys infrastructure, so they have given second highest allocations for the sector. Bangladesh currently faces up to 2,000 megawatts electricity shortage a day that causes severe sufferings as well drastic fall in industrial production.

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