9th Pay Scale gazette faces new administrative hurdles

The government has approved the proposed 9th National Pay Scale, with the gazette notification now awaited. The new pay structure is scheduled to be published tomorrow, Sunday, but complications have emerged over several final administrative steps, raising questions among government employees about whether the notification will be issued on time.

According to relevant sources, the draft of the pay scale gazette has already been sent to the Bangladesh Government Press (BG Press). After necessary printing and formal procedures are completed there, the draft will move to the next stage.

Before the notification is issued, the draft is expected to undergo vetting by the Ministry of Law. The necessary formalities, including assigning an SRO number, will then have to be completed before the gazette can be published. Ensuring that all these processes are completed within the scheduled timeframe has now become a key concern for the relevant authorities.

The pay scale notification was earlier expected to be published by Thursday, but that did not happen. Sunday was subsequently set as the new target date. Finance Secretary has also said that the 9th National Pay Scale gazette will be issued on September 6, putting the spotlight on the final activities at the BG Press and other relevant offices.

Meanwhile, a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was held at the Secretariat on Monday afternoon. The meeting approved the new pay scale and, in line with the new salary structure, approved the “Joint Service Instructions 2026” for the armed forces. The decisions will take effect from July 1, 2026, according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance.

The release said the government had formed a committee of secretaries to formulate recommendations after receiving the reports of the National Pay Commission-2025 and the Armed Forces Pay Committee-2025. The committee’s report was reviewed at the Cabinet meeting.

Following detailed consideration, the new pay scale was approved after taking into account the government’s financial capacity and the country’s overall economic situation. Inflation, the cost of living and the living standards of government employees were also considered, along with the need for a balanced and rational salary structure.

The approved National Pay Scale 2026 retains the existing 20 pay grades for government employees, while the basic salaries for each grade have been revised. Under the new structure, the minimum starting basic salary for the 20th grade has been set at Tk 20,000, while the highest fixed salary for the first grade has been set at Tk 156,000.

Reducing pay disparity was also considered in the new structure. The ratio between the lowest and highest grades has been reduced from the existing 1:1.945 to 1:1.78.

As a result, the basic salary at the lowest grade will increase by 142 percent under the new pay scale, while the fixed salary at the highest grade will increase by 100 percent.