Secretary committee reviewing 9th Pay Commission recommendations for public servants

The recommendations of the 9th Pay Commission, which proposes more than doubling the basic salary for government employees, are being reviewed by a secretary committee, the Prime Minister’s Finance and Planning Advisor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir says.

Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday, Titumir clarified that the committee is evaluating the proposals to determine future steps.

"A secretary committee is working on this according to the established process. They will review the recommendations, and subsequent actions will be decided based on their findings," he said.

The Pay Commission submitted its report to the then-chief advisor Muhammad Yunus on Jan 21, just 20 days before the general election.

The commission recommended increasing the minimum basic pay from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the maximum scale from Tk 78,000 to Tk 160,000.

Implementing these proposals would require an additional Tk 1.06 trillion.

Currently, the government spends Tk 1.31 trillion on 1.4 million government employees and 900,000 pensioners.

While the previous interim government’s finance advisor, Salehuddin Ahmed, had mentioned allocating funds and forming a committee to examine the phase-wise implementation, the new elected government faces fiscal pressure.

Reports suggest that funds initially set aside for the pay scale may be diverted to fulfil election manifesto promises regarding social safety nets, which were not included in the previous budget.

Ministers have also frequently cited rising costs for fuel and essential commodity imports due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as an additional strain on the national exchequer.

When asked if the new pay structure would be reflected in the current or upcoming fiscal year’s budget, Titumir reiterated that the secretary committee’s review is the standard procedure following any commission report.

The secretary committee was officially formed on Feb 8.

The 9th Pay Commission was formed 12 years after the constitution of the 8th commission in 2013.