The government has approved the proposed 9th national pay scale, and only the gazette notification remains. Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani said the order on the new pay structure could be issued as early as Wednesday or Thursday.
Asked about the new pay structure, the cabinet secretary told media that the finance division would issue the relevant order Wednesday or Thursday, after which the details of the new structure would become clear.
The new pay scale was approved at a Cabinet meeting held Monday afternoon at the Secretariat, chaired by Prime Minister Tareque Rahman. At the same meeting, the Joint Forces Directives 2026 were approved for the armed forces, in line with the new pay scale. The new pay structure and related directives will take effect from July 1, 2026.
The information was announced in a press release from the finance ministry.
According to the release, a secretaries’ committee was formed to draft the government’s recommendations after receiving the reports of the National Pay Commission 2025 and the Armed Forces Pay Committee 2025. The committee’s report was reviewed in detail at the Cabinet meeting.
Following the review, the new pay scale was approved, taking into account the government’s financial capacity, the overall economic situation, inflation, the cost of living and the quality of life of government employees, along with the need for a balanced and rational pay structure.
The approved National Pay Scale 2026 retains the existing 20 pay grades for government employees, but the basic pay for each grade has been reset.
Under the new pay scale, the minimum starting basic pay for Grade 20 has been set at 20,000 taka, while the maximum pay for Grade 1 has been set at 156,000 taka.
The new pay structure also takes into account reducing pay disparity. The ratio between the lowest and highest grade pay has been reduced from the existing 1:1.945 to 1:1.78 under the new scale.
As a result, the basic pay for the lowest grade will increase by 142 percent, while the pay for the highest grade will increase by 100 percent.