Shortfall in public dev programmes seen as a binding constraint

Inability to implement the public expenditure programmes has become the binding constraint to confront the ongoing pandemic.

The Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh came up with the findings at a virtual discussion on the “National Budget for 2021-22: What should be there for the disadvantaged people”, on Sunday.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, convener, Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh and Distinguished Fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) made a keynote presentation on the topic.

“We were concerned about resource availability last year to confront the pandemic. But this year we see the inability to implement the public expenditure programmes,” Debapriya said.

He also said the disadvantaged population of the country is bearing the disproportionate adverse impact of such shortfall in public development programmes.

The convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs also believes that this overwhelming constraint cannot be addressed exclusively through administrative monitoring. This will need wide-ranging structural and institutional reforms, he said.

Debapriya also urged the government to involve other stakeholders to improve the quality of the public expenditures, particularly for assessing the impact of the development projects.

The Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh also said the country’s economic recovery is faltering due to the impact of the second wave of Covid-19. Employment, which was being restored, also got affected by the latest wave of the virus.

The government has so far announced around two dozens of stimulus packages involving Tk125,000 crore to fight against the Covid-19. But small and micro enterprises and disadvantaged people are not getting benefits from the stimulus as banks often deny to extend them loans due to their lack of documents.

Of the stimulus packages, 14 were fiscal supports, including two for foods, and this was less than 20.5 percent of total allocation. Some 11 hybrid supports (subsidy to interest rate) amounting to a little above 79.5 percent of total allocation.

Hybrid support in FY2020-21 includes additional Tk10,000 crore in working capital loans to affected large industries and services sectors. Some packages were announced in one fiscal year, but intended to disburse from the following fiscal year fully or partly, according to the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.

Anisatul Fatema Yousuf, coordinator, Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh; Advocate Sultana Kamal, former executive director, Ain o Salish Kendra; Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow, CPD; Shaheen Anam, executive director, Manusher Jonno Foundation; Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director, Campaign for Popular Education; Dr Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, vice chairperson, BRAC; Asif Ibrahim, chairman, Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD); and Syed Nasim Manzur, chairman of Landmark Footwear Ltd and founding director, Apex Footwear Ltd, also take part in the discussion.