Bangladesh raises president, prime minister’s pay, perks

Parliament has passed two proposed laws to nearly double the pay and perks of the president and the prime minister.

The President’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Prime Minister’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 were pushed through by voice vote on Wednesday after Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury tabled them.

The president’s monthly salary will now be Tk 120,000 and the prime minister’s Tk 115,000.

Chowdhury, who is in charge of the Cabinet Division on parliamentary affairs, had placed the bills on Jan 25.

The parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry scrutinised them and reported to Parliament on Tuesday after their deadline for the report was extended several times.

Their pay rise will be backdated to Jul 1, 2015, it is said in the bill.

Apart from the paycheck hiked from Tk 61,200, the premium of the president’s life insurance is raised from Tk 1.5 million to Tk 2.7 million for air travel.

The prime minister will now get Tk 100,000 a month in housing allowance.

The prime minister’s air travel life insurance premium has been increased from Tk 1.4 million to Tk 2.5 million.

The head of the government will have a daily allowance of Tk 3,000, up from Tk 1,000, and the size of discretionary fund has been upped from Tk 10 million to Tk 15 million.