The government may implement the Ninth Pay Scale in two phases, with the full increase in basic salaries likely to take effect from July and increased allowances to follow the next fiscal year, finance ministry officials have said.
A secretaries’ committee, led by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, is expected to submit its evaluation of the Ninth Pay Commission’s recommendations, along with an implementation roadmap, to the finance ministry this week.
The committee has finalised its recommendations after reviewing three separate pay commission reports on the civil administration, the judiciary and the armed forces, officials involved in the process told The Daily Star.
The finance ministry is expected to issue a gazette notification by mid-July once the prime minister approves the implementation plan.
Initially, the government weighed two options for rolling out the ninth pay scale -- over three years or over two years.
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Under the three-year option, the increase in basic salary would be split over two fiscal years -- 50 percent in the first year and the remaining 50 percent in the second -- while revised allowances would come into effect in the third year.
For example, if an employee with a basic salary of Tk 10,000 gets a 100 percent raise under this option, the basic would rise to Tk 15,000 in the first year and Tk 20,000 in the second. The higher allowances would be paid from the third year.
Under the two-year option, the employee’s basic salary would rise in one phase from Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000 in the first year, with the enhanced allowances taking effect in the second year.
However, the Finance Division found that implementing the basic salary increase in two phases and the allowances in the third phase could create technical complications in the Integrated Budget and Accounting System (iBAS++).
It therefore recommended implementing the entire increase in basic salary at once, while introducing the revised allowances in the second phase.
“The final decision depends on the prime minister’s approval,” a finance ministry official said, adding that the gazette is expected to be issued by mid-July or the following week.
The committee is also expected to recommend a 100 percent or slightly lower increase in basic salaries for employees in grades 1 to 10, and an average increase of around 130 percent for those in grades 11 to 20.
Government employees currently receive 10 percent dearness allowance and 5 percent annual increment on their basic salaries. These would be adjusted into the hiked salaries under the new pay scale, finance ministry officials said.
The proposed budget for fiscal 2026-27 has earmarked Tk 44,000 crore for partial implementation of the new pay structure.
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury announced that the new pay scale would take effect from July 1, although he did not spell out how it would be implemented.
“We are announcing the phased implementation of a new pay structure for government employees from July 1, 2026,” he said, noting that public servants had remained under the same pay structure for the past 11 years despite a sharp rise in living costs due to inflation.
Unlike previous pay revisions, the budget does not show a separate increase under the salary and allowances head.
Finance ministry officials said the allocation has instead been incorporated under the Net Public Service head, where spending has increased by Tk 54,572 crore from the revised allocation for the current fiscal year to Tk 1,41,444 crore for 2026-27 fiscal year.
According to the officials, the Tk 44,000 crore allocation will finance salary adjustments for government employees, pensioners, and MPO-listed teachers and staff, depending on the pace of implementation.
The Ninth Pay Commission recommended increases in basic salaries ranging from 100 percent to 142 percent, along with substantial increases in other benefits.
The Eighth National Pay Scale, introduced in 2015, was also implemented in two phases, with revised basic salaries taking effect first and revised allowances following a year later.
The government currently spends around Tk 1,31,000 crore annually on salaries and pensions for about 14 lakh employees and 9 lakh pensioners.
