A cabinet committee meeting on the proposed ninth national pay scale for government officials and employees has begun. The meeting started at 5 p.m. Monday, August 31, in the Cabinet Division’s conference room at the secretariat.
The meeting is expected to discuss presenting the final proposal for the new salary structure to the cabinet for approval. Related sources say the new salary structure is planned to be implemented in phases.
Earlier Monday morning, Prime Minister Tareque Rahman held a meeting with finance ministry officials on the new pay scale. The meeting discussed arranging the funds needed to implement the new salary structure, its potential financial impact on the government, and other related issues.
The prime minister’s finance and planning adviser, Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, and finance secretary Dr Khairuzzaman Mazumder attended the meeting.
Relevant officials said the meeting held detailed discussion on how much additional funding would be needed to implement the new pay scale and what impact it could have on the budget and economy.
It had previously been disclosed that implementing the ninth National Pay Commission’s recommendations could require roughly 106 billion taka in additional funds.
If everything goes as planned, government officials and employees could begin receiving salaries under the new structure starting in October. However, the new structure will be considered effective from July 1 this year. As a result, salaries for July, August and September will be recalculated, with the arrears adjusted afterward. In other words, even if the gazette notification is delayed, the effective date of the salary increase will not be pushed back. This information comes from sources in the finance ministry’s finance division.
The source said the core elements of the pay scale are now nearly finalized. After cabinet approval, the proposal will be sent to the Ministry of Law for vetting, as needed. Once vetting is complete, the path will open for issuing the gazette notification. The secretary committee’s final report recommended raising basic salaries by up to 100 percent, from grade 1 to grade 20. In other words, rather than fully implementing the commission’s recommendations, the rate of salary increase is being somewhat reduced to align with the government’s financial capacity. Changes to allowances and other benefits are also being proposed alongside this.
Plans have also been made to implement this salary structure in two phases. This information also appears in the Prime Minister’s Office’s published e-book, “180 Days of the People’s Government.”
A senior finance division official said several inter-ministerial meetings on the ninth pay scale have been held over the past two days. Everything is finalized. It will now be presented to the cabinet. The official said today’s cabinet meeting is likely to be held at parliament.