The government on Thursday announced that a new pay scale for the government employees would be implemented in phases beginning on July 1, 2026.

Finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury made the announcement while presenting the national budget for the 2026-27 financial year in the Jatiya Sangsad.

He said that government employees had been receiving salaries and allowances  under the same pay structure for nearly 11 years.

‘Given the significant increase in the cost of living, the government is announcing the phased implementation of a new pay structure for the public employees beginning on July 1, 2026,’ he said.

The finance minister also said that merit, integrity, competence, experience, and professional qualifications would serve as the principal criteria for appointments, transfers, and promotions across the public service in the pursuit of building a merit-based Bangladesh.

The government has earmarked Tk 89,380 crore for salaries and allowances in FY2026-27, compared with Tk 84,739 crore in the revised budget for the current fiscal year.

The interim government formed the Ninth National Pay Commission on July 27, 2025, with former finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan as its chairman.

On January 21, the commission submitted its report, recommending an increase in the minimum basic salary for government employees from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the highest pay scale from Tk 78,000 to Tk 1,60,000.

Two months after the BNP-led government assumed office in February, it formed a 10-member committee on April 23, led by cabinet secretary Nasimul Ghani, to oversee the implementation of the new pay structure.

It was reported that the committee had proposed implementing the new pay scale in three phases.

Under the proposal, 50 per cent of the revised basic pay will take effect in FY2026-27, while the remaining 50 per cent of the revised basic salary will be implemented in FY2027-28.

In the third and final phase, in FY2028-29, different allowances and other financial benefits will be fully adjusted with the revised basic salary.

When submitting its recommendations, Pay Commission chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan said that implementing the proposals would require Tk 1,06,000 crore.

The Ninth National Pay Commission was formed 12 years after the Eighth Pay Commission, headed by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin, in November 2013.

The Awami League-led regime, which was ousted in August 2024 amid a mass uprising, implemented the major recommendations of the previous pay commission in two phases — salary hikes in July 2015 and other benefits in July 2016.