Record govt servants to retire this FY

A record number of public servants are set to go into retirement during the current fiscal year (FY), 2018-19.

The government will require an amount estimated at Tk 260.47 billion to meet their pension-related payments.

Officials concerned at the Finance Division said nearly 23,000 employees and officials are likely to retire from the government jobs in this FY, ending on June 30, 2019, at the age of 59 years.

Usually, around 20,000 government staff members go into retirement a year.

The National Pay Scale 2015 has 20 grades, whereas the total number of civil servants is around 1.102 million at present.

The officials said the maximum number of employees set to go into retirement belong to the Grade-11.

"As per our estimation, some 7,169 public servants will retire from Grade-11," said an official at the Finance Division.

The grade is one of the leading one in terms of the number of employees, with around 132,000 public servants.

Some 2,531 employees are expected to retire from Grade-13.

The officials also said officers mostly from 1984 and 1985 batches will go into retirement in this FY after ending their long career in the civil service.

Some 10 top officers getting salary in Grade-1 will retire this year. Over 1,000 will retire from grades two to four, according to a document.

Only two government employees will retire from Grade-19, the smallest grade in terms of number.

In the meantime, the government has estimated that Tk 260.47 billion will be required to meet the pension-related payments this year.

The government in its revised budget for the last FY, 2017-18, allocated Tk 136.86 billion for the purpose. The actual pension payment for FY 2015-16 was Tk 155.12 billion.

Senior officials at the Controller General of Accounts (CAG) office told the FE that the expenditures on account of pension payments increased due to the changes made in the employees' benefits in the National Pay Scale in 2015.

The country follows 'pay as you go financing' system while paying the retirees. Many countries, including the US, follow 'funded pension' system.

The 'pay as you go financing' system may create an undue burden on the present taxpayers to finance some future needs, from which they may not fully benefit.

The rate of pension is extended to 90 per cent from the previous 80 per cent, according to the CAG's documents.

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