The government is planning to spend a record amount of food grains in the budget for the coming 2021-2022 fiscal year. The budget for the next financial year is going to be announced in the parliament on July 3. The government is planning to increase the allocation for foodgrain procurement by more than 64 percent to Tk 8,708 crore, taking into account various negative contexts including the epidemic in the budget.

Recently, a tripartite meeting of the Food, Planning and Finance Department of the government has finalized the allocation for the procurement of food grains in the fiscal year 2021-22. Officials from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the finance ministry who were present at the meeting said this.

According to them, the government is planning to set aside Rs 8,708 crore in the next financial year for foodgrain procurement. The rate of that allocation is 64.21 percent as compared to the revised allocation of the current financial year. Where in the current 2020-2021 financial year the allocation was Tk 5 thousand 303 crore. However, in the budget announcement, the initial allocation for foodgrain procurement was Tk 9,912 crore. That allocation was later reduced in the revised budget.

Sunbd/NJ