Finance to allocate Tk10,000cr in budget for vaccination
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Finance to allocate Tk10,000cr in budget for vaccination

Budget

Abul Kashem
17 May, 2021, 10:45 pm
Last modified: 18 May, 2021, 12:10 pm

Related News

  • Shift focus to stability from growth, economists tell finance minister
  • Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
  • Cholera inoculation in Dhaka starting first week of May
  • Govt to place national budget for FY23 on 9 June: Finance minister
  • More subsidies coming to tame inflation

Finance to allocate Tk10,000cr in budget for vaccination

The health ministry has been advised to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers, avoiding any third party

Abul Kashem
17 May, 2021, 10:45 pm
Last modified: 18 May, 2021, 12:10 pm
Photo: Sumit Dayal/Bloomberg
Photo: Sumit Dayal/Bloomberg

The finance ministry is going to allocate Tk10,000 crore in the new fiscal budget to vaccinate 10 crore people against Covid-19 by June next year.

The same amount was allocated for the current financial year also, but more than two-thirds remained unspent due to failure in purchasing vaccines.

If sufficient vaccines are available in the fiscal 2021-22, the finance ministry will spend more from the Tk24,000 crore budget support pledged by development partners.

Besides, if needed, the government will pay for vaccines from the ongoing development projects worth Tk8,500 crore funded by development agencies, including the World Bank.

The Finance Division has advised the health ministry to buy Covid vaccines directly from the manufacturing companies – not through any third party.

The advice comes in the context of not getting the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines as per agreement with the Serum Institute of India through Beximco Pharmaceuticals. In addition, the government had to pay Beximco Pharma a commission of $1 per dose. In the case of 20 crore doses, if the commission is paid at this rate, the additional cost will be around Tk1,700 crore.

A senior finance ministry official involved in budgeting told The Business Standard that the government targets to vaccinate all adults in the country within the next financial year. This will require about 20 crore doses of vaccine. The jabs cost $5-10 per dose in the international market.

According to preliminary estimates, it may cost around Tk12,000 crore to buy 20 crore doses of vaccine, the official said.

"At the moment, there is no possibility of getting a vaccine from the United States – its neighbour Canada is also not getting the required vaccine from the US. So, Bangladesh is currently relying on vaccines from China and Russia. If the vaccine is available from the United States in the future, it will be bought," he added.

The official said the main theme of the next budget is "Priority of livelihood and future Bangladesh". In other words, the next budget aims to revive the country's economy by protecting people's lives through implementing large-scale vaccination programmes. In addition, cash assistance and OMS facilities for the destitute and unemployed poor will continue.

According to the finance ministry, about Tk2,800 crore has been spent in the current financial year's budget out of the Tk10,000 crore allocation to address the crisis and purchase vaccines. Of this, about Tk1,500 crore has been paid in advance to Serum Institute for 3 crore doses of vaccines, out of which Bangladesh has so far received only 70 lakh doses.

The Ministry of Health has procured medical equipment worth around Tk300 crore from this fund to deal with Covid-19. In addition, during the ongoing lockdown, 35 lakh unemployed and poor families have been given cash assistance of Tk2,500 from this fund as an Eid gift from the premier where Tk1,000 crore was spent.

The government is trying to buy Russia's Sputnik V and the vaccines of China's Sinopharm on an emergency basis as it has not received the vaccine from the Serum Institute as per the agreement. However, Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Li Jiming said it would take a few months for Bangladesh to get the Sinopharm vaccine after delivering the vaccine to countries ordered earlier.

In this context, Bangladesh sees the possibility of getting Russia's Sputnik V in the fastest time. The country has demanded $9.5 per dose of vaccine.

However, as the Russian vaccine is still not approved by the World Health Organisation, the World Bank has raised an objection to paying for it from an ongoing development project the lender is funding. If the vaccine is available by next June, the ministry of finance will pay for it from the bulk allocation of the current financial year.

According to finance ministry officials, Tk12,000 crore budget support has been received from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for the current financial year. These development partners have assured of doubling the amount of budget support in the next financial year.

So, there will be no shortage of money to buy the vaccine. If needed, the cost of the vaccine will be provided from the budget support for the next financial year.

For the next financial year, the World Bank will provide $550 million budget support, ADB $1,000 million, The France Development Agency $200 million, JICA $300 million, European Investment Bank $300 million, AIIB $300 million and Korean International Cooperation Agency will give $25 million.

Finance ministry officials said the budget support is actually an easy loan. The average interest rate on these loans is 2% and the government can spend the money on any work as per its requirement. Therefore, there is no accountability to the lending agencies.

Economy / Top News

Budget / Vaccine

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Photo: TBS
    Bangladesh’s foreign debt till 2025 can be cleared with 2 month’s remittance: Finance Minister
  • Falling trade barriers and hyper-efficient logistics produced an age of abundance for many. But the last four years have brought an escalating series of disruptions.Source: Bloomberg
    Age of scarcity begins with $1.6 trillion hit to world economy
  • Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan holds a news conference during the NATO summit at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium on 14 June  2021. Photo: Reuters
    Turkey has told allies it's a 'no' to Sweden and Finland's NATO bid - Erdogan

MOST VIEWED

  • MCCI for corporate tax reduction in line with neighbouring nations
    MCCI for corporate tax reduction in line with neighbouring nations
  • Pre-budget talks to begin 6 February
    Pre-budget talks to begin 6 February
  • Lower budget deficit mirrors slower public spending
    Lower budget deficit mirrors slower public spending
  • Ministries asked not to seek additional fund in revised budget 
    Ministries asked not to seek additional fund in revised budget 
  • Money whitening scope widened
    Money whitening scope widened
  • File Photo: Mumit M/TBS
    Workers’ protection neglected in budget

Related News

  • Shift focus to stability from growth, economists tell finance minister
  • Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
  • Cholera inoculation in Dhaka starting first week of May
  • Govt to place national budget for FY23 on 9 June: Finance minister
  • More subsidies coming to tame inflation

Features

Sketch: TBS

'Food inflation is an unavoidable consequence of currency devaluation'

11h | Interviews
The open-browser-tabs question also tells an interviewer how much of an internet native the job applicant might be. Photo: Noor-a-Alam

The best question to ask a job applicant

11h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

Ugly business: Politics in workplace

10h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

‘Do you have insurance?’: Life of a life insurance agent

13h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

How many countries have nuclear weapons and how many are there?

How many countries have nuclear weapons and how many are there?

16m | Videos
Dengue fever is rising, so beware

Dengue fever is rising, so beware

26m | Videos
How a university teacher and PHD holder become farmer

How a university teacher and PHD holder become farmer

4h | Videos
Dhaka University's Botanical garden home to some of world's rarest plants

Dhaka University's Botanical garden home to some of world's rarest plants

4h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

5
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

6
PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire
Crime

PK Halder: How a scamster rose from humble beginnings to a Tk11,000cr empire

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab