The cabinet on Monday approved a new pay structure for government employees, raising basic salaries by up to 100 per cent for officers in Grades 1 to 10 and up to 142 per cent for employees in Grades 11 to 20.
Allowances linked to basic pay will also increase proportionately under the new structure, sources familiar with the cabinet meeting said.
The approval came at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman at the Secretariat in the afternoon.
The government plans to implement the revised basic salaries in three phases between July 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027.
Payment of the revised allowances is scheduled to begin from January 1, 2028, according to the sources.
The authorities will now begin drafting the official gazette notification for implementing the new pay scale, a process that could take one to two weeks.
The new structure marks the first major revision of the government pay scale in nearly 11 years and follows recommendations of the Ninth National Pay Commission.
The existing 20-grade structure will remain unchanged.
The Ninth National Pay Commission, headed by former finance secretary Zakir Ahmed Khan, had recommended salary and allowance increases ranging from 100 to 140 per cent.
It proposed raising the minimum basic salary from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000 and the maximum basic salary from Tk 78,000 to Tk 160,000.
The commission submitted its report to the then chief adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, on January 21 this year.
It had been formed by the interim government on July 27, 2025, almost a dozen years after the Eighth National Pay Commission.
The commission had estimated that implementing its recommendations would require an additional Tk 1.06 lakh crore annually.
The government currently spends around Tk 1.31 lakh crore on salaries and related benefits for about 14 lakh government employees and pensions for around 9 lakh retirees.
However, the final structure approved by the cabinet differs from some earlier recommendations and proposals.
A 10-member committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Gani was formed on April 21 to review and finalise recommendations for implementing the new pay structure.
Sources said the committee had earlier recommended limiting the increase to no more than 100 per cent and implementing the revised structure over two financial years.
Under that proposal, the revised basic pay was to take effect from July 1 of the current fiscal year, while revised allowances were to be introduced from July 1 of the following fiscal year.
The package ultimately placed before the cabinet retained the July 1, 2026 starting point but changed the implementation method, with the higher basic salaries to be introduced in three instalments over a year.
The finance minister had announced while presenting the national budget in parliament on June 11 that the new pay structure would be implemented in phases from July 1.
He said government employees had remained under the same pay structure for about 11 years while inflation had significantly raised the cost of living.
The government has allocated Tk 1,41,434 crore for salaries and allowances in the current fiscal year’s budget, Tk 54,572 crore more than the revised allocation in the previous fiscal year.