Implementation work on the 9th National Pay Commission for government employees is progressing at a fast pace. Once finalized, the proposed pay structure will soon be presented to the Cabinet. Following Cabinet approval, an official gazette notification will be issued.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury confirmed this information to reporters at the Secretariat on Wednesday.
To recommend implementation strategies and a framework for the new pay scale, a 10-member high-level committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani was formed on April 21. According to sources in the Ministry of Finance, the committee is in the final stages of preparing its recommendations.
Other members of the committee include:
Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
Finance Secretary, Public Administration Secretary, Law Secretary, and Defence Secretary
Secondary and Higher Education Secretary, and Health Services Secretary
Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division
Controller General of Accounts (CGA)
A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Dhaka from July 12–16 and held a meeting with the Finance Minister. During the discussions, the organization inquired about the sources of funding required to implement the new pay scale and advised the government to focus on revenue mobilization.
Responding to queries on whether the new pay scale might be postponed due to IMF inquiries, the Finance Minister clearly stated:
“The new pay scale has no connection with the IMF loan. Work is ongoing. The pay structure will certainly be implemented, and once approved, issuing the gazette notification will not take much time.”
A responsible official from the Finance Division confirmed that the IMF is not opposed to raising salaries; rather, it encouraged the government to boost revenue generation to support implementation.
Nearly a decade after the 8th Pay Commission, the interim government constituted the 23-member ‘9th National Pay Commission’ on July 27, 2025. Led by former Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan, the commission submitted its report on January 21 this year.
Number of Grades: Proposed retaining the existing 20 grades.
Salary Increase: Recommended a 100% to 140% increase in basic salary and allowances.
Minimum Scale: Proposed increasing the minimum basic salary from BDT 8,250 to BDT 20,000.
Maximum Scale: Proposed increasing the maximum basic salary from BDT 78,000 to BDT 160,000.
Currently, BDT 131,000 crore is spent annually on 1.4 million active government employees and 900,000 pensioners. Implementing the new recommendations will require an additional BDT 106,000 crore.
Considering legal and financial aspects, the Nasimul Gani Committee recommended implementing the basic salary in the current fiscal year, followed by the allowances in the subsequent fiscal year.
Earlier on June 11, during the presentation of the FY 2026-27 budget in Parliament, the Finance Minister announced that considering inflation over the past 11 years, the new pay scale would be implemented phased from July 1. Out of the additional BDT 54,572 crore allocated to the public administration sector compared to the current revised budget, approximately BDT 44,000 crore has been earmarked for the increased salaries of government employees, MPO-enrolled teachers, and pensioners.
