Asif Showkat
The finance ministry has asked the ministries and divisions to gather and send detailed information on seven items of expenditure including their consumption of fuel and the latest status of the implementation of their macro–credit programmes before the upcoming budget meetings, said official sources.
‘The government will not provide a single penny to the ministries or divisions in the revised and future budgets if they fail to provide appropriate bills and relevant expenditure documents,’ said a senior official of the finance ministry.
The finance ministry, to revise the current fiscal budget and plan the next year’s budget, on Sunday issued a circular to various ministries and divisions to hold budgetary meetings from February 8 to March 1.
According to the circular, during the meetings the ministries and divisions will have to show the documents which will be examined to verify the ministries’ total receipt and expenditure.
The approved organogram of the ministries, divisions and directorates will have to be placed at the budgetary meetings, said the official.
The required amount of funds to meet salaries and other benefits of the employees, expenditure under the land development tax and payment of fuel for vehicles are needed for planning the revised and next year’s budget, he added.
Besides, the ministries and divisions will also have to show the allocation of funds for payment of their respective utility bills including that of power, gas and water.
In the budget meetings, the ministries and divisions will also have to confirm the development projects to be undertaken under the revenue budgets.
Besides, the finance ministry, to discuss expenditure planning under the Medium-Term Budgetary Framework, will hold meetings with the concerned ministries from February 5 to 22.
These MTBF meetings will finalise the agreed resource ceilings for the 2008-09 revised budget and the budgets of the next two fiscal years for 20 ministries and divisions that have been given a certain measure of autonomy for expenditure planning.
Of the total 39 ministries and divisions of the government, the energy ministry, public works ministry, power division and bridge division joined the MTBF bandwagon of 20 relatively autonomous bodies in the current fiscal year.
Courtesy: newagebd.com
