Body to recommend some proposals on special pay package

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FE Report
A government committee under the Ministry of Finance will recommend a number of proposals on special financial package to compensate the public officials and employees for high inflation.
"We have prepared a number of proposals, which will be placed to the higher authority next week," ATM Fazlul Karim, the committee chief, told reporters Thursday after the committee's wrap-up meeting.
Karim, an additional secretary of the Ministry of Finance (MoF), however, did not disclose the proposals, which have been drafted detailing the financial involvements.
But sources said a 10 per cent hike in salary of the public officers and employees will cost the government nearly Tk 12.0 billion in additional revenue expenditure.
The implementation of such salary hike will be a difficult task for the present government, which is struggling to maintain a balance in revenue income and expenditure in the current fiscal, they said.
It is up to the higher authority to fix a package, Karim said, adding it is now time to raise the salary of the public officials and employees because of high food inflation.
Sources said the most viable option of the government to implement the special benefit is to utilise the fund worth Tk 8.0 billion kept under "block
allocation" in the current fiscal budget.
They said the committee has considered different factors like the rate of inflation, per capita national income, cost of living and global trend of commodity prices while preparing the proposals.
It also reviewed the steps taken in the neighbouring countries on fixation of allowances and benefits against the inflationary pressure.
Besides, the committee reviewed the recommendations on dearness allowance suggested by the National Pay Commission.
The immediate past political government approved the last pay scale in 2005 with a 53.33 per cent salary hike for the civil servants and defence officials in the higher grade and 60 per cent in the lower grade.
The pay hike cost the government Tk 39.75 billion.
Some 8,28,000 civil servants, 1,40,000 defence staffs and 5,60,000 teachers, were benefited by the last pay scale.