Outlay Tk 11,000cr less than income

Govt expenditure

Rabiul Haque: In the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year 2023-24, the expenditure of the government is less than the income by Tk 11,865 crores. Given the deficit budget, mainly due to the late start of the Annual Development Program (ADP) activities, including the late arrival of some operating expenditure accounts, there is no need to release much money at the beginning of the fiscal year. So almost in the first quarter of every financial year there is some surplus money in the government coffers.
Officials of the Ministry of Finance say that the surplus money in the first quarter is more than other years because of the government’s cost savings in the overall economic situation as well as the initiative to pay the arrears of fertilizer and electricity subsidy by alternative means. Moreover, additional income from non-NBR revenue has also helped in this regard. However, as always, the amount of concessions increased as the project implementation accelerated.
According to the report of the Ministry of Finance, the government has collected a total revenue of Tk 95,515 crore in the first three months. Of this, Tk 77,780 crores came from the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Non-NBR revenue was Tk 17,780 crore, which is about Tk 7,000 crore more than the same period last fiscal. Apart from this, foreign donations have come in three months of Tk 537 crore.
Meanwhile, the total expenditure of the government in three months is Tk 83,650 crores. That is, the surplus money in the government’s treasury was Tk 11,865 crores at that time. But in the same period last financial year, the deficit was Tk 1,775 crores. However, there was a surplus in the first quarter in the previous two fiscal years as well.
According to the information of the report, in the current fiscal year, the development expenditure of the government has been allocated Tk 2 lakh 77 thousand 582 crores, but only Tk 15,386 crores have been spent in three months. That is, in this case, the budget implementation is 5.5 percent. Apart from this, Tk 4 lakh 75 thousand 281 crores have been allocated in the management sector in this year’s budget. Out of this, Tk 94,376 crore have been kept for interest payment, which is 19.9 percent of the total operating expenses. However, the total cost of paying interest in three months has been Tk 21,834 crores, which is 32.3 percent of the total operating expenses of this period.
Meanwhile, the arrears of fertilizer and electricity subsidy for the last fiscal year 2022-23 were about Tk 35 thousand crores, but it has not been released. The government plans to pay this liability through a special bond issue that does not have enough cash in hand. Debt management and budget sub-department of finance department held a meeting to finalize the matter. Officials of the finance department say that one of the reasons for having surplus money in Sarkar’s hands is not releasing this large sum of money.
However, for the subsidy of gas-electricity, fertilizer, food and other sectors of the current financial year, Tk 8,953 crore rupees have been discounted in three months. In the same period of last financial year which was Tk 11,179 crores. In the first three months of the financial year, the total operating expenditure was Tk 67,495 crores. In this case, the budget implementation rate is 14.2 percent. Overall, the budget implementation rate in three months is about 11 percent.
According to the information of the Ministry, the government has paid a net of Tk 12,675 crore against borrowing from domestic and foreign sources as the expenditure is lower than the income. In the same period of the last financial year, a loan of Tk 1,638 crores was taken. In the three months of the current financial year, Tk 6,615 crores of loans were taken from banking sector in the country, but only Tk 9 crores of loans were taken from savings certificates. Meanwhile, Tk 13,049 crore were paid for the government’s other debts. Apart from this, Tk 8,094 crore were repaid against a loan of Tk 1,843 crore from foreign sources.
Taufiqul Islam Khan, a senior research fellow at the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a private research organization, told that, as usual, the implementation of the ADP at the beginning of the fiscal year is low, and the implementation of the government’s cost-cutting policy budget is very low. Moreover, there is probably more money in the exchequer due to less subsidy concessions and increased revenue in the non-NBR sector. However, in the changing situation, the rate of budget implementation should be increased along with cost reduction. There is no alternative to not only meeting the conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but also increasing the revenue for the overall development of the country.