Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said that the implementation of next pay scale, as far as the financial involvement was concerned, would be challenging.
The National Pay Commission 2025 has finalised its report, recommending over 100 per cent hike in pays for the government employees who are serving at lower levels in the 20-grade salary structure.
Officials said that pay hikes for officers serving between the grade-9 to the grade-1 were likely to be ranged between 75 per cent and over 54 per cent.
The pay commission headed by former finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan will submit it report to chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today.
‘Responsibility and liability of the new pay scale implementation will fall on the new elected government,’ Salehuddin told reporters at his secretariat office in the capital Dhaka, referring to the government to be elected through February 12 national election.
The finance adviser made the remarks while he was answering to a question whether the implementation of the pay scale with the financial involvement of about Tk 70,000 crore to Tk 80,000 crore would be a burden amid a shortage of resources.
The finance adviser, however, expressed reluctance to comment on whether the pay commission was going to recommend doubling the salaries and allowances of the public officials and employees.
He said that the interim government had appointed the National Pay Commission 2025 due to demand by public officials and employees.
He also said that it was up to the new elected government whether it would implement it or not.
Explaining the tradition process of lengthy scrutiny of the pay commission reports by a number of committees, the finance adviser hoped that the new government would make an implementation strategy.
Economists said that the implementation of the pay hikes would increase fiscal burdens and would also increase money supply to the market, pushing up the inflation rate which has been prevailing high over the past three years.
Commenting on the approval by the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms/Reorganisation for creation of two separate administrative divisions on revenue generation side, the finance adviser said that the approval was required to accelerate reform.
Operations of the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division will start soon, said the finance adviser, adding that the Internal Resources Division would be abolished.
The finance adviser expected that they would soon receive the report on restructuring the country’s tax system from the national task force led by Zaidi Sattar, chairman of the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh.
