The Finance Division on Wednesday asked the ministries and the other divisions not to make extra expenditures violating rules.

The division in a notification on the day said instances had been there that many divisions and ministries were not taking mandatory prior approvals from the Finance Division to check extra costs directly and indirectly.

For example, it said, decisions of establishment of different types of infrastructure and an increase in number of beds in hospitals had been taken violating rules.

Referring to Rule No 13 of the Rules of Business 1996, revised up to February 2024, the Finance Division said that no ministry was allowed to issue directive affecting the approved national budget.

Referring to 151 of the Secretariat instructions 2024, the division said that the provision asked the ministries and divisions to follow the rules of business.

The violation of the rules increases the non-development budget costs unexpectedly and puts pressure on maintaining the budget deficit.

The directive by the Finance Division has been issued when the newly elected government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is facing problems amid a shortage in revenue earnings.

The National Board of Revenue has been lagging behind the target by close to 1 lakh crore in the first nine months of the outgoing financial year ending in June.

Besides, price hikes of energy items on the global market because of the ongoing war in the Gulf region have create extra pressure on energy subsidy.

The government has already slapped a series of expenditure control and budgetary tightening measures to keep the budget deficit at a tolerable level.