Govt employees: Cabinet to receive new pay proposal in 2 weeks

The final report of the committee reviewing the recommendations of the Ninth Pay Commission will be placed before the Cabinet within the next two weeks, according to sources from the committee meeting held at the Secretariat on Monday.

The government formed a 10-member committee on 21 April to recommend the implementation of a new pay structure for government employees. The committee held its final meeting on Monday, chaired by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani.

The committee comprises the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Finance Secretary, the Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, the Law Secretary, the Defence Secretary, the Secondary and Higher Education Secretary, the Health Services Secretary, the Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division, and the Comptroller General of Accounts.

According to relevant sources, the government will issue separate gazette notifications for the judiciary and the armed forces, in addition to civilian government employees.

Nearly a decade after the Eighth Pay Commission, the interim government formed the 23-member Ninth National Pay Commission on 27 July 2025.

After receiving an extension, the commission submitted its report to the then Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, on 21 January this year. Former Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan chaired the commission.

The commission recommended retaining the existing 20 pay grades while increasing salaries and allowances by between 100 and 140 per cent.

It proposed raising the minimum basic salary from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and increasing the highest basic salary from Tk 78,000 to Tk 160,000.

The commission also stated that while the government currently spends Tk 131 billion on 1.4 million government employees and 900,000 pensioners, implementing the new pay structure would require an additional Tk 106 billion.

The committee headed by Nasimul Ghani has been working to implement the commission’s recommendations.

After slightly reducing the original proposals, the committee initially drafted a plan to implement the new pay structure over three fiscal years and later revised it to two fiscal years.

At Monday’s meeting, all members supported introducing the revised basic salaries during the current fiscal year and paying the revised allowances in the following fiscal year. However, they decided to send the proposal to the Cabinet, to be chaired by the Prime Minister, for a final decision.

On 11 June, while presenting the national budget in Parliament, the Finance Minister announced that the government would begin implementing the new pay structure for government employees from 1 July.

In his budget speech, he said, “Government employees have been receiving salaries and allowances under the same pay structure for nearly 11 years. During this period, inflation has significantly increased the cost of living. Therefore, the government will implement the new pay structure in phases from 1 July.”

Before attending the "Innovation Showcasing 2025–26" event organised by the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance at the Secretariat on Monday, the Finance Minister was asked by Prothom Alo what final decision the government had taken regarding the implementation of the new pay structure. However, the minister declined to respond.

The economic analysis of the operating and development expenditure in the proposed budget for the 2026–27 fiscal year allocates Tk 89.836 billion for the salaries and allowances of government officials and employees, which is not significantly higher than the revised allocation for the 2025–26 fiscal year.

Under the "Use of resources in the operating and development budget" section of the budget, the government has allocated Tk 141.434 billion for the "Public Administration – Net" sector, which is Tk 54.572 billion higher than the revised allocation for the current fiscal year.

According to officials of the Finance Division, at least Tk 44 billion of this additional allocation has been earmarked for government employees, teachers under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme, and pensioners.

A source on the committee said that the government had reached its final decision more than a week ago. Some technical issues relating to the judiciary’s pay structure remained, but the authorities have now resolved them.

The source said, “The government will pay the revised basic salaries from 1 July of the current fiscal year, while the revised allowances will take effect from 1 July of the following fiscal year. This decision is final.”

After receiving Cabinet approval, the proposal will go to the Ministry of Law for legal vetting before the government issues the official gazette notification.

Sources said the government will now place the proposal before the Cabinet once it receives the Finance Minister’s approval. The Cabinet may consider it at its next meeting, although it could also be deferred until the following Cabinet meeting.