The idea of the merger came from the World Bank on the ground that it would reduce unnecessary expenditure and simplify the budget process.

During his meeting with WB South Asian chief economist Shantayanan Devarajan in Dhaka, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman said that if government officials implement the merger it would take time.

"The World Bank's proposal is sound. It is not rational or scientific to keep these two budgets separate," Saifur told journalists after the meeting held at the planning ministry. "We have already started this process and switched about 60 to 70 projects from development budget to revenue budget," he said.

"We have been trying this for the last two years," he added.

"If we must speed up the process of merger, we need to train our officials first and we will also need to explain this to parliamentarians," Saifur pointed out.