A massive reform is needed in the bureaucracy to modernise it as the bureaucrats still follow many age-old rules that have become irrelevant, Planning Minister MA Mannan said yesterday.

"We need a massive reform in bureaucracy. We need to delve deep into the matter," he said at a virtual discussion.

"Reform and bureaucracy are two sides of the same coin because bureaucracy works in line with the rules laid out in rule books."

Bureaucrats in the country still follow many rule books that were written long ago and are irrelevant in the present context, he noted.

Mannan said his ministry is carrying out reforms in one of its important wings -- Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) -- for bringing more dynamism in it.

The minister also hinted at a massive reform in Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to equip with adequate manpower and resources so that the BBS can conduct more research and surveys.

He also said the VAT (value-added tax) law of 2012 came into effect in 2018 but the government's revenue collection remains short of the target.

The discussion titled "Budget 2021-22: Bangladesh Towards a Resilient Future, Protecting Lives and Livelihoods" was jointly organised by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Policy Research Institute (PRI). 

On several occasions in the past, Mannan blamed inefficient bureaucracy for several ministries' failure to ensure quality spending of budgetary allocations.

The average spending capacity of the ministries has been around 70 percent of the allocated funds for the last few years.

The ministries' inability to spend the funds has deprived people of the full benefits of the government's budgetary allocations.