Salaries under new pay scale from next month

The government will start implementing the new pay scale for public servants from next month.

The pay commission's recommendations will be implemented in three phases, said Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman yesterday.

The first phase containing a major portion of the recommendations will be put into operation as of May, he told newsmen after a meeting with a visiting IMF mission at his residence in the city.

"People are eagerly awaiting the new pay scale. So, we will go for its implementation from next month. And the government staff and pensioners in a single chunk will get the total amount in arrears from January, the month the new pay scale comes into effect," Saifur said.

The meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission covered issues including the new pay structure, monetary expansion, exchange rate and export-import programme, Saifur said. He termed the discussions satisfactory except for a few differences.

Sources said a secretary-level committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Dr Saadat Hossain will come up with its final recommendations on pay increases and table before the cabinet. The committee has already held two meetings and is expected to finalise its recommendations by this week.

Saifur leaves for Sweden today. He said he will decide implementation of the new pay scale after his return on April 14.

A finance ministry high official said the secretarial committee will complete all the procedures towards this end by this month and the ministry also is ready to provide with the additional amount required to implement the new pay structure.

According to a finance ministry report, the government needs an additional Tk 1,154 crore in the second half of this fiscal year to implement the first phase of the new pay structure for both the civil and defence staffs.

If the salaries of only the civil and defence staffs are increased as from January 1 this year in line with the pay commission's recommendations, it will need an additional Tk 653 crore, the finance ministry review noted.

Similarly, if teachers and staffs of educational institutions are given 50 percent of their recommended salaries, this may cost the government an additional Tk 301 crore.

It will require an extra Tk 200 crore if pensioners get 50 percent of the recommended pensions.

To fully implement the recommendations of the National Pay Commission (NPC) for the civil administration and the Defence Pay Commission (DPC) for the armed services, the government needs Tk 6,712 crore a year in addition to the current budgeted salary provision of Tk 13,477 crore.

The IMF Article 4 mission to conduct annual evaluation of the overall economic situation in the country arrived in Dhaka on March 28. Yesterday's was its final discussion with the finance minister.

The finance minister said their discussion on disbursement of the fourth instalment of the IMF's Poverty Reduction Growth Facility loan that was due in January last was satisfactory, too.