Ninth pay scale approved in cabinet, maximum salary Tk 1.56 lakh

The Cabinet has approved the proposal of the ninth national pay scale for government officers and employees by ending the long wait. In the new salary structure the maximum basic salary has been fixed at Tk 1,56,000 and the minimum at Tk 20,000. In the new structure the salary will increase from a minimum of 100 percent to a maximum of 142 percent.

The proposal of the pay scale was approved at the Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the conference room of the Cabinet Division in the Secretariat in the afternoon on Monday (August 31). According to the approved structure the rate of salary increase will be made effective in phases. The effective date of the new salary structure has been fixed as July 1 of the current year.

In the new scale the basic salary of Grade-1 has been fixed at Tk 1,56,000. In contrast the basic salary in the 20th grade will be Tk 20,000. As a result a significant change is coming in the basic salary of government officers and employees compared to the existing salary structure.

For the first time the arrangement of disabled child allowance has also been kept in the ninth pay scale. Under this allowance the concerned government employees will get Tk 3,000 per month. At the same meeting the ‘Joint Forces Instructions-2026’ for the armed forces has been approved in consistency with the new salary structure.

The secretary committee formed by the government has reviewed the recommendations of the ninth national pay commission in the process of finalising the new salary structure. This 10-member committee was formed with Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani as president on April 21. Earlier the 23-member ninth national pay commission was formed with former Finance Secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan as chairman on July 27, 2025. The commission submitted their report on January 21 of the current year.

In the recommendation of the pay commission there was a proposal of increasing the minimum basic salary from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the maximum from Tk 78,000 to Tk 1,60,000 by keeping the existing 20 grades intact. However after the review of the government the maximum basic salary has been fixed at Tk 1,56,000 in the final structure. The concerned think a big financial pressure will be created on the government in the implementation of the new pay scale.

Although the new structure has been fixed as effective from July 1 of the current year the matter of salary adjustment will come to the fore after the issuance of the notification and the implementation process. As a result there will be opportunity of adjusting the arrears of salary according to the new structure later, the concerned sources have informed.