Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed an allocation of Tk29,247 crore for the health sector for FY2020-21which is 23% higher than that of current fiscal year.

The minister made the proposal while delivering his “Budget Speech 2020-21 — Economic Transition and Pathway to Progress” at the parliament on Thursday afternoon.

The health sector got Tk23,692 crore and Tk Tk18,677 crore allocation in the 2019-2020 and 2018-19 fiscal years respectively.

AHM Mustafa Kamal said this allocation has been proposed for the health and family welfare sector prioritizing activities in combating Covid-19.

He also mentioned that currently 13 ministries and divisions, other than the Health Ministry, were implementing programs related to health and family welfare.

The allocation for this purpose in the upcoming fiscal year is Tk41,027 crore, which is 1.3% of GDP and took the allocation to 7.2% of the total budget allocations, he added.