The coronavirus pandemic has severely hit the economy of Bangladesh, as the country was under lockdown for about two months. The government has announced a number of stimulus packages to revive the economy. The national budget for the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 (FY 2021) was announced on Thursday. One of the key expectations from the budget was to revive the Covid-19 affected economy. In the Fiscal Year 2020, the total allocation for the health sector (Health Services Division, and the Health Education and Family Welfare Division) was 1.02% of GDP which is lower than that of developing countries like India and Sri Lanka. In FY2018, India spent about 1.28% of its GDP for the health sector while for Sri Lanka the proportion was 1.48% in 2017. Evidently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, poor, and vulnerable households’ income have dropped significantly, which has reduced their ability to spend for their health. Further, the government may incur additional expenses for medical treatment to coronavirus affected patients if the pandemic continues in FY2021. Considering all these issues, the allocation for the health sector deserved its substantial boost. This will also increase employment in this sector.
The coronavirus pandemic has severely hit the economy of Bangladesh, as the country was under lockdown for about two months. The government has announced a number of stimulus packages to revive the economy. The national budget for the Fiscal Year 2020-2021 (FY 2021) was announced on Thursday. One of the key expectations from the budget was to revive the Covid-19 affected economy. In the Fiscal Year 2020, the total allocation for the health sector (Health Services Division, and the Health Education and Family Welfare Division) was 1.02% of GDP which is lower than that of developing countries like India and Sri Lanka. In FY2018, India spent about 1.28% of its GDP for the health sector while for Sri Lanka the proportion was 1.48% in 2017. Evidently, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, poor, and vulnerable households’ income have dropped significantly, which has reduced their ability to spend for their health. Further, the government may incur additional expenses for medical treatment to coronavirus affected patients if the pandemic continues in FY2021. Considering all these issues, the allocation for the health sector deserved its substantial boost. This will also increase employment in this sector.
