Ninth pay scale gazette may be issued on September 17, 21 or 22

Uncertainty remains over the publication of the gazette for Bangladesh’s ninth national pay scale, with September 17, 21 and 22 emerging as possible dates if the required legal vetting is completed in time.

The Finance Ministry is preparing to send a summary of the new pay structure to the Law Ministry for vetting. If the vetting is completed by Wednesday, the gazette could be issued later this month, according to sources familiar with the process.

However, officials said the timeline could change depending on administrative procedures.

A senior Finance Ministry official, speaking to The Daily Campus on condition of anonymity, said the date had not yet been finalised.

“The date for issuing the pay-scale gazette has not been finalised yet. However, several possible dates have been discussed. The date will be determined after the Law Ministry completes its vetting.”

The uncertainty follows repeated delays in issuing the gazette.

The government announced the new pay structure on August 31, and the Cabinet Secretary had said it would be published as a gazette within about a week. Nearly two weeks later, the gazette has yet to be issued, leaving many government employees concerned and frustrated.

Former bureaucrats, however, say there is no reason for employees to be discouraged by the delay.

Ali Imam Majumder, adviser to the interim government and former Cabinet Secretary, said the process of publishing a gazette after Cabinet approval can take several weeks and, in some cases, months.

He said disappointment had grown this time because the announcement of a new pay scale came after more than a decade.

How much will salaries increase?

Under the new pay structure, salaries of some government employees will rise by as much as 142 percent.

The salaries of employees in grades 1 to 11 have been increased by up to 100 percent, meaning some will receive roughly twice their previous basic pay.

For employees in the lowest, 20th grade, the increase will be as high as 142 percent.

The new structure sets the minimum basic salary at Tk 20,000, up from Tk 8,250, while the maximum basic salary for first-grade officials will be Tk 156,000.

The Cabinet Division has said the new pay scale will be implemented in three phases.

The new structure will take effect from July 1, meaning employees will be entitled to the revised benefits retrospectively from that date.

Around 2.4 million government employees are covered by the new pay structure. The government is expected to incur an additional annual expenditure of around Tk 105,000 crore on salaries and allowances.

How the new pay scale was proposed

In 2025, the interim government formed the National Pay Commission 2025, headed by former Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan.

The commission submitted its report to the government on January 22, recommending a 100 to 140 percent increase in government employees’ salaries and allowances.

It proposed raising the minimum basic salary from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the maximum from Tk 78,000 to Tk 160,000.

The commission also recommended increasing the Baishakhi allowance from 20 percent to 50 percent and introducing significant changes to travel allowances for employees in grades 10 to 20.

After the BNP government took office, a 10-member committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani was formed on April 21 to review the commission’s recommendations.

The government led by Tarique Rahman subsequently approved the new pay structure based on the committee’s recommendations.