Finance Division gets largest share of supplementary allocation

The parliament yesterday passed the supplementary expenditure plan of Tk 56,117 crore for fiscal year 2025-26 to meet increased expenditure under different ministries and divisions.

Among the ministries and divisions, the Finance Division received the highest allocation under the supplementary budget – an additional financial plan introduced by a government during a fiscal year to allocate extra funds for unforeseen expenses, cover revenue shortfalls, or adjust spending priorities.

Overall, the parliament approved allocations for 27 ministries and divisions under the supplementary budget, which Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury placed before the House on June 11 along with the national budget.

The allocation for the Finance Division was Tk 28,655 crore, followed by Tk 12,407 crore for the Planning Commission and Tk 4,923 crore for the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Ministry of Water Resources and the Local Government Division got Tk 2,177.04 crore and Tk 1,809.56 crore in additional allocations, respectively.

As per parliamentary rules, the government has to get approval from lawmakers if it needs to increase budgetary allocations for any ministry or division. The same process is not required for reduced allocations or expenditure.

During the outgoing FY26, the government has cut allocations to 35 ministries and divisions by Tk 59,348 crore. As such, the government’s revised expenditure plan has declined to Tk 788,000 crore for the current year from the initial plan of Tk 790,000 crore.

Addressing the parliament yesterday, Khosru said since assuming power, one of the government’s top priorities has been to restructure the economy by tackling global instability, internal structural weaknesses, and inflationary pressures.

“We are trying to reduce waste in every area of government expenditure, cut spending in non-priority sectors, and ensure frugality in administrative costs. At the same time, we are working to implement the government’s electoral manifesto.”

“However, due to global circumstances, we had to adjust subsidies for electricity and energy,” he added.

Opposition MPs raised concerns over weaknesses in the banking sector, rising default loans, shrinking private-sector credit flow, and the government’s capacity to finance the budget deficit.

They also questioned the government’s plan to borrow large sums from banks despite mounting default loans and liquidity crises, while simultaneously creating rescue funds for troubled banks.

They warned that this could further strain the financial sector.

Khosru, in response, said additional allocations were needed to finance priority programmes, including waiving principal and interest on agricultural loans of up to Tk 10,000 and funding two Annual Development Programme (ADP) and four non-ADP projects.

He stressed that the extra funds were not sought for the Finance Division’s own expenses and defended the proposal as justified, rejecting the cut motions.