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Bangladesh's Annual Development Programme (ADP) implementation is still on a weak trajectory as the implementing agencies have failed to revamp the usual execution of development projects, officials say.
They say the ADP execution rate during the first seven months of FY26 slowed to a five-year low, with government agencies utilising only 21.18 per cent of the allocation.
According to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), the agencies spent Tk 505.56 billion between July and January against the allocation of Tk 2.39 trillion.
This represents a downward trend compared to the same period in previous years.
In this period of FY25, the ADP spending rate was 21.52 per cent, official data shows.
It shows the FY26 rate is the lowest since at least FY22.
Like the previous years, the health ministry failed to improve its worst performance, registering dismal progress with only 6.59 per cent implementation rate.
The railways ministry also performed poorly with only 12.45 per cent implementation rate, while it was 13.91 per cent for the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD).
On the other hand, the water resources ministry, holding 3.43 per cent of the total ADP allocation, performed the best with 41.10 per cent implementation rate.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD), which holds 1.63 per cent of the ADP budget, spent 40.66 per cent of its allocation.
For the Local Government Division (LGD), which holds the largest ADP share (15.01 per cent), the implementation rate was the highest at 36.91 per cent.
The Ministry of Science and Technology performed relatively well with 36.90 per cent.
The agencies are implementing a total of 1,198 projects under the ADP.
Notably, the projects funded by the agencies' own funds saw the highest implementation rate of 44.12 per cent, while the government-funded components lagged at 19.48 per cent.
January 2026 saw a slight uptick in activities, with Tk 86.79 billion (3.64 per cent) spent in that month alone.
This was marginally higher than the 3.55 per cent expenditure recorded in January of the previous fiscal year, but was not enough to pull the cumulative seven-month average out of its record low.