Home
+
Published : 23 May 2026, 11:21 PM
The sluggish pace of Annual Development Programme (ADP) implementation following last year’s July Uprising continues to weigh on government spending, latest official data shows.
In the first 10 months of the ongoing 2025-26 fiscal year, government ministries and divisions managed to implement only 41.41 percent of the total development layout.
According to data released on Saturday by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the planning ministry, the total expenditure during this period stood at Tk 865.16 billion.
The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government had initially set an ambitious ADP expenditure target of Tk 2.38 trillion for the fiscal year.
Owing to sluggish implementation, the National Economic Council (NEC) slashed the development budget by Tk 300 billion, downsizing it to a revised Tk 2.08 trillion on Jan 12.
The government must spend a staggering Tk 1.22 trillion within the remaining two months (May and June) of the fiscal year.
During the same July–April period of the previous 2024-25 fiscal year, the government spent Tk 934.24 billion, which represented an implementation rate of 41.31 percent.
An analysis of the IMED data reveals that the administrative stagnation caused by the law and order challenges post-July Uprising, coupled with massive bureaucratic reshuffles, is still bottlenecking project execution.
The political landscape has since shifted, with the BNP, led by Chairman Tarique Rahman, forming the current elected government. Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury is scheduled to present his government’s first budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year on Jun 11.
An NEC meeting chaired by the prime minister on May 18 already approved a significantly larger ADP of Tk 3.08 trillion for the next fiscal year. In the month of April alone, ministries spent Tk 109.09 billion, showing a marginal increase from the Tk 105.30 billion spent in April of the previous year.
The decline in development spending began heavily under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
The ousted Awami League administration had originally passed a massive Tk 2.78 trillion ADP for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The interim administration revised that down to Tk 2.26 trillion, but ultimately spent only Tk 1.53 trillion.
That resulted in an overall implementation rate of 67.85 percent --the lowest recorded in 20 years.
The ADP implementation rate was 80.63 percent in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
The interim government's policy to aggressively prioritise essential schemes led to funding cuts or outright suspensions for numerous projects initiated by the previous regime, driving down overall expenditure.
While ADP spending traditionally picks up speed in the final months of a fiscal year, the current execution gap remains extraordinarily wide.
In comparison, the ADP implementation rate during the July–April period was 49.26 percent in the 2023-24 fiscal year, 50.33 percent in 2022-23, and 54.57 percent in 2021-22.
The IMED report highlighted that the 15 highest-funded ministries and divisions, which collectively command 70.97 percent of the total Tk 2.08 trillion revised ADP, achieved an average implementation rate of 50.76 percent so far.
The Ministry of Science and Technology led the chart, executing 80.20 percent of its layout.
It was followed by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division at 68.27 percent, and the Ministry of Agriculture at 62.01 percent.
Among the other major ministries and divisions, the Ministry of Water Resources recorded an implementation rate of 61.50 percent, followed by the Local Government Division at 55.97 percent, the Power Division at 50.84 percent, and the Bridges Division at 48.42 percent.
The Secondary and Higher Education Division implemented 44.49 percent, while the Ministry of Shipping recorded 42.79 percent and the Road Transport and Highways Division 39.93 percent.
The Technical and Madrasah Education Division posted an implementation rate of 37.67 percent, slightly ahead of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works at 37.61 percent.
The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education implemented 28.27 percent, while the Health Services Division recorded the lowest rate among the major ministries and divisions at 22.15 percent.
