Shawdesh Desk:

The government has planned to set aside Tk 100 billion in the coming fiscal year in order to meet expenditure related to unanticipated emergencies due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The amount is consistent with that of the current fiscal year’s budget, but needs to be maintained as the Covid-19 continues to ravage the world, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while unveiling the proposded budget for the fiscal of  2021-22 on Thursday afternoon.

Mustafa Kamal said the country has also received a significant amount of foreign funding to continue the fight against the pandemic into the new fiscal year.

This includes $600 million from the World bank, $100 million from the Asian Development Bank and another $100 million from the Asian Infrastructure Bank. These funds have been utilised to implement various projects which will continue into the coming fiscal year, he said.

The ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness’ project purchases vaccines, installs oxygen lines, sets up ICUs and CCUs and other activities and is supported by the World Bank and AIIB.

Bangladesh has also taken initiavtive to enhance the capacity of private medical college hospitals to deal with the pandemic, the minister said.

It is also in the process of urgently recruiting manpower and consultants to ensure proper case management, the expansion of laboratory facilities and enhancing the skills of health workers, doctors, nurses and technologists.