REJAUL KARIM BYRON

About one-fourth of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget will go towards five ministries and divisions including health, education and defence, with a significant portion kept as block allocations to undertake projects in line with the BNP’s electoral pledges.

In fiscal 2026–27, the Secondary and Higher Education Division, Health Services Division, Local Government Division, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Primary and Mass Education may receive allocations of Tk 221,224 crore, which is about 24 percent of the proposed budget.

The Secondary and Higher Education Division will receive the highest allocation of Tk 50,302 crore, with Tk 11,500 crore kept as block allocation in its development budget.

The Health Services Division will get Tk 43,189 crore, with Tk 20,805 crore as block allocation.

The Local Government Division’s allocation is Tk 43,130 crore, with Tk 7,562 crore as block allocation.

The defence ministry will get Tk 42,462 crore.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education will receive Tk 42,145 crore, with Tk 16,299 crore as block allocation.

The reason for the block allocation is that the government did not get sufficient time to prepare projects in line with its electoral pledges, The Daily Star has learnt from finance ministry officials involved with the proceedings.

“Time is needed to design suitable projects that would truly improve the quality of education and health. For this reason, the proposal for block allocations was made,” said one of the officials.

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