Govt mulling 20% pay hike for civil servants

The Finance Division (FD) has estimated a total of 20% pay rise following Finance Minister AMA Muhith’s move to adjust salaries of the government employees every year due to inflation. A recent Finance Ministry memo contains instructions of the minister who wants to take decisions on hiking the civil servants’ salaries and allowance within December this year. The FD’s implementation wing will hold an inter-ministerial meeting in this regard in the FD auditorium on March 12. Finance, commerce and planning ministers will attend that meeting. An FD official preferring to be anonymous said: “Whereas the national budget increases by only 17% annually, a 20% increase in salaries and allowance for civil servants seems to be unreasonable.” As the country’s inflation rate has been hovering around 5% in the last couple of years, the Farashuddin Pay Commission recommended increasing salaries by 5-8% each year, he further said.