With just two months remaining in the current fiscal year, Bangladesh’s development spending shows significant underperformance, with only 41.31% of the Annual Development Program (ADP) implemented so far. The Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department (IMED) of the Planning Commission revealed that development expenditures from July to April totaled just Tk 93,424 crore—about Tk 32,000 crore less than what was spent in the same period last year.
In April alone, only Tk 10,500 crore was utilized. To meet the revised target of Tk 2,26,164 crore in ADP expenditure, the government now faces the challenge of spending Tk 1,32,740 crore within the final two months of the fiscal year.
According to IMED’s data published on its website, the shortfall is partly due to reduced demand from ministries and departments. This prompted the Planning Commission, in a recent National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, to slash Tk 49,000 crore from the original ADP budget.
Among the ministries and departments, the Local Government Division led the way with the highest spending at Tk 19,763 crore, followed by the Power Division at Tk 15,270 crore. The Roads and Highways Department reported Tk 8,625 crore in expenditure.
However, several key sectors have shown alarmingly low spending. The Health, Education, and Family Welfare Ministry recorded just Tk 53 crore in ADP implementation, while the Healthcare Division spent Tk 845 crore—raising concerns about the delivery of essential services and development outcomes in these critical areas.
With such a large gap left to fill and limited time to do so, questions are being raised about the efficiency of project implementation and whether the full development agenda for the year can realistically be met.
