The government is set to introduce key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor work of ministries on a quarterly basis to speed up implementation of the objectives laid out in the budget.
The indicators will be introduced to 16 ministries initially as part of the Medium-Term Budget Framework (MTBF).
Finance and Planning Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam inaugurated a workshop on KPIs for the officials of the ministries at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre yesterday.
KPIs have important roles in helping ensure that public resources are utilised "efficiently and effectively", the finance ministry says in its brochure on KPIs.
The KPIs are being introduced under the Financial Management Reform Programme (FMRP) of the Finance Division, supported by DFID and the Embassy of the Netherlands.
KPIs will focus on the outputs and outcomes in line with inputs and each KPI will have a target.
Fritz Meijnderg, head of Development Cooperation of the Embassy of the Netherlands, said the reform project had been taken up to increase transparency and accountability in implementing budget objectives.
The government must be accountable to taxpayers, not to donors, he said.
Finance Secretary Dr Mohammad Tareque, who attended the workshop, said every ministry would have to intensify internal audits for better implementation of projects.
On a different note, Mirza Aziz said although commodity prices on the international market fell, the government's expenditure would not come down as the government was building up a stock by procuring food grains at higher prices from the local market.
On the other hand, the government spending on the social safety net has increased, the adviser said.
The fall in world commodity prices will result in a decrease in income from import duty, the adviser said.
The adviser stressed the need for paying attention to earnings from tax and VAT.