The government’s Annual Development Programme (ADP) implementation rate plunged to a record low of 3.89 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, extending a slowdown in development spending for a third consecutive year.
Ministries and divisions spent just 3.89 percent of their annual development allocations in July-September, down from 5.09 percent in the same period of fiscal 2025-26 and 4.75 percent in fiscal 2024-25, according to a report released by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) on Sunday.
The latest rate is far below the pace typically recorded in the opening quarter of a fiscal year, when ADP implementation generally exceeds 7 percent.
The implementation rate was 7.50 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2023-24 and 8.55 percent in the same period of fiscal 2022-23, highlighting the sharp deterioration in the execution of development projects over the past three years.
The slowdown in the previous two fiscal years coincided with administrative instability following the fall of the government in 2024 and the subsequent tenure of the interim government.
The latest figures suggest that the pace of development spending has yet to recover, raising concerns over the timely execution of projects and delivery of public infrastructure and services.
With only 3.89 percent of the annual programme implemented in the first three months, ministries and agencies will need to accelerate project execution in the remaining nine months to meet their spending targets.
However, a rush to spend towards the end of the fiscal year may not ensure better outcomes if delays in project preparation, procurement and administrative processes remain unresolved.The IMED report tracks the implementation of the ADP, the government’s main instrument for development spending, and provides a measure of how effectively public investment plans are being translated into actual expenditure.