The parliament yesterday passed the budget of Tk 340,605 crore for fiscal 2016-17, with the highest allocation given to the education ministry, bucking the trend of the previous years.

Usually, the local government division or the defence ministry get highest allocation. For instance, in the outgoing fiscal year the local government division received highest allocation.

The education ministry got Tk 26,857 crore, followed by the primary and mass education ministry at Tk 22,162 crore.

The defence ministry got the third highest allocation of Tk 22,115 crore and the local government division Tk 21,326 crore.

Among other significant ministries and divisions, the home ministry received Tk 19,285 crore, health ministry Tk 17,516 crore, agriculture Tk 13,678 crore and the power division Tk 13,062 crore.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith brought in some changes to the budget he proposed on June 2 in his concluding remarks on Wednesday.

In his wrap-up speech, Muhith said many described the budget as an ambitious one and expressed doubts about its implementation.

“These criticisms and doubts are baseless -- the country has been progressing and its implementation capacity rising.”

He said the government will take several steps from next fiscal year to ensure that the allocations for the ministries and divisions are properly utilised.  A project directors' pool will also be formed with skilled and experienced officials for quick implementation of the development projects, he added.

The budget, which will take effect from today, has outlined a gross expenditure of Tk 464,553 crore and net expenditure of Tk 340,605 crore.

The ongoing session of the current parliament, which began on June 1, has been adjourned yesterday until July 17.