PMO returns about Tk27cr to govt exchequer

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has returned about Tk26.43 crore to the government exchequer in the fiscal year 2022-2023 by curtailing the allocation to different internal sectors of the office.

"While revising the budget of the current fiscal, we observed that we can return about Tk27 crore to the government from different internal sectors . . . and Tk26.43 crore was found that can be returned and we handed over this money to the finance division from the parliamentary budget," PMO Director General (Administration) Mohd Ahsan Kibria Siddiqui said.

Noting that the money has already been transferred to the government exchequer, he said, "We decreased the expenditure gradually in the PMO in a planed way since the beginning of the fiscal year. And we are trying to reduce the cost of our office further more by the end of the current financial year in July".

Ahsan said the PMO has started reducing the expenses of the office at the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when she undertaken the initiative of providing Covid-19 vaccines to all the country's people.

"At that time, the prime minister gave instructions so that we save money from the possible sectors and return to the finance division, urging them to give that money to the health ministry. We started that work from 2020," he added.

When the global economic crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war started in 2022 that also hit Bangladesh, the PMO official said, "We started reducing our office expenditure further as per the instructions of the Honorable Prime Minister".

"At first we reduced power consumption. Then we looked into the petrol and lubricants sector and we cut that too by rationing the vehicles in a very scientific way," Ahsan said, adding that entertainment cost has also been reduced, making the food menu very simple.