The cabinet will decide the steps for implementing a new pay scale for government employees, after which a gazette on the matter could be issued by the second week of August. Whatever the implementation process, it will take effect from 1 July. The decision was taken on Wednesday at a meeting of the recommendation-drafting committee of the National Pay Commission 2025.
According to meeting sources, the final decision on the new pay scale has been made. The secretaries’ committee will analyse some technical aspects for another two to three days. The committee’s recommendations will then go to a cabinet meeting in the last week of this month or the first week of August. The cabinet will take some important decisions, including the phasing of the new pay scale’s implementation. After cabinet approval, it will go to the law ministry for legal vetting, and once the prime minister approves the summary, the gazette will be issued.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury announced during his budget presentation in the national parliament on 11 June that the new pay structure for government employees would be implemented from the 2026-27 fiscal year, phased in from 1 July.
According to finance division sources, the implementation committee had initially recommended putting the new pay structure into effect in three phases, then recommended two phases. At Wednesday’s meeting it was decided that the cabinet would take the final decision, because while the current cost for 14 lakh government employees and 9 lakh pensioners is Tk 1 lakh 31 thousand crore, the commission had said implementing the new structure would require an additional Tk 1 lakh 6 thousand crore. Secretaries’ committee members felt the cabinet should decide how the government will fund this.
After the meeting, one committee member said, on condition of anonymity, that government employees’ pay had not risen for about 11 years, so the new pay scale was being reviewed thoroughly to ensure no one felt deprived or aggrieved. Another two or three meetings would be held for this, after which the gazette could be published in early August. The member said giving higher pay and allowances involved a great deal of money and also touched on the government’s capacity, so the secretaries’ committee would give no opinion on how many phases the new pay scale would be implemented in; the final decision would be taken at a cabinet meeting.
The new pay structure reportedly includes proposals to restructure not only basic pay but also house rent, medical, education, transport and other allowances. Several statutory regulatory orders (SROs) will have to be issued on these benefits. According to finance division sources, after Wednesday’s committee meeting, officials were asked to draft the SROs and rules related to implementing the new pay scale, with instructions in some cases to lay out the picture of the previous pay scale. Relevant finance division officials are working in line with the committee’s instructions.
Last pay scale implemented in two phases
Former finance secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury said the most recent pay scale, in 2015, was implemented in two phases, with pay given in the first year and allowances the next year. On the whole, implementing a pay scale in two phases is realistic, he said; the secretaries’ committee could present both types of proposal to the cabinet, which would then decide as it saw fit.
In 2025, the interim government formed the ‘National Pay Commission, 2025′ under former finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan. In the report it submitted to the government on 22 January, the commission recommended raising government employees’ pay and allowances by 100 to 140 percent. It proposed raising the existing lowest pay scale from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the highest step from Tk 78,000 to Tk 1 lakh 60 thousand. It also recommended raising the Baishakhi allowance rate from the current 20 percent to 50 percent and spoke of wide-ranging reform in transport allowances for grades 10 to 20. To review the pay commission’s recommendations, a 10-member committee was formed on 21 April under Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani.
This committee’s main task is to examine the reports submitted by the National Pay Commission 2025, the Bangladesh Judicial Service Pay Commission 2025 and the Armed Forces Pay Committee 2025 and to make recommendations for the next steps.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report