The process of implementing the 9th National Pay Scale for government employees began on July 1, though the official gazette has not yet been published. A preliminary draft of the new pay scale has proposed major changes to annual increment rules, replacing the current uniform rate across all grades with varying rates based on grade level.
Finance Ministry sources said the gazette publication may take another two to three months.
According to the preliminary draft, annual increments for grades 6 through 20 have been set at 5% of basic pay. Grade 5 would receive a 4% increment, grades 3 and 4 would receive 3.5%, and grade 2 would receive 2.75%. The first grade’s annual increment will be determined separately. Currently, all grades receive a uniform increment of approximately 5%.
Government sources said the new increment structure was determined after consulting 167,500 government employees, 61,500 members of the public, and heads of 3,513 institutions. In the survey, only 5.6% of respondents supported the existing increment system.
Meanwhile, 50.43% of respondents favored linking annual increments to inflation, while 31.54% said increments should be aligned with the cost of living. Additionally, 79.5% of respondents said employees in grades 11 through 20 should receive relatively higher annual salary increases.
The National Pay Commission had recommended raising the medical allowance to a maximum of Tk 5,000, but this has been reduced to Tk 3,000. Similarly, the children’s education allowance has been set at Tk 1,500 instead of the proposed Tk 2,000.
A Finance Division official told media that while basic pay has increased significantly, some allowance rates have been reduced from the commission’s recommendations. However, all allowances will increase compared to current levels. Under the plan, only the new basic pay will take effect in the first phase, with various allowances to be implemented in stages starting in the 2027-28 fiscal year.
According to government analysis, a grade 20 employee currently receives a basic salary of Tk 8,250, with a total package of approximately Tk 16,950 including allowances. Under the new pay scale, if the basic salary for that grade is set at Tk 20,000, the total package including allowances could reach approximately Tk 41,908.
Similar increases will apply across all grades from 19 to 1. However, to maintain parity, the rate of allowance increase for higher grades will be kept relatively lower. This is because certain allowances, including transport, tiffin, laundry, and risk allowances, are currently received primarily by employees in grades 10 or 11 through 20. The new allowance structure will be finalized taking this into consideration.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report