Bangladesh raises pay, perks of ministers, speakers and MPs

Parliament has passed three laws to nearly double the pay and perks of ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers, speakers and the MPs.

The move follows the passing of bills also nearly doubling the salaries of the president and the prime minister.
 
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury placed for passing the Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 during Thursday's session.
 
Law Minister Anisul Huq also placed for vote the Speaker and Deputy Speaker (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
 
All three bills, introduced in the House by the two ministers in January, were passed by voice votes.
 
On Wednesday, the President’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and The Prime Minister’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 were also pushed through by voice vote, giving their pay and perks a twofold hike.
 
The president’s monthly salary will now be Tk 120,000 and the prime minister’s Tk 115,000.
 
Salaries of the ministers will now be Tk 105,000, state ministers Tk 92,000 and deputy ministers Tk 86,500.
 
The speaker will now get Tk 112,000 and the deputy speaker Tk 105,000.
 
The monthly salary of MPs has also been hiked to Tk 55,000.
 
In each case, the new pay will have retrospective effect from Jul 1, 2015, and allowances will become effective from July this year.

Apart from the pay hiked from Tk 53,100, the expense sumptuary allowance of the ministers and the deputy speaker will now rise from Tk 6,000 to Tk 10,000.

They had been getting Tk 45,000 as housing allowance for living in a private house. The allowance is now being raised to Tk 80,000.

Their daily allowance has been raised from Tk 750 to Tk 2,000. Discretionary fund of the ministers has also gone up from Tk 400,000 to Tk 1 million and the deputy speaker’s from Tk 800,000 to Tk 1 million.

Aside from the basic pay raise from Tk 47,800, the expense sumptuary allowance of the state ministers will now rise from Tk 4,000 to Tk 7,500, housing allowance, in case they don’t get any government house, from Tk 40,000 to Tk 70,000, and discretionary fund from Tk 300,000 to Tk 750,000.

Besides a pay increase from Tk 45,150, the deputy minister’s expense sumptuary allowance has been raised from Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000, housing allowance, if they live in private house, from Tk 40,000 to Tk 70,000, and discretionary funds from Tk 300,000 to Tk 500,000.

For all ministers and the deputy speaker, air travel premium has been raised from Tk 500,000 to Tk 800,000, and the daily allowance of the state and deputy ministers from Tk 600 to Tk 1,500.

Apart from the basic pay hike from Tk 57,200, the speaker’s expense sumptuary allowance has been raised raise from Tk 8,000 to Tk 13,000, air travel premium from Tk 1 million to Tk 1.6 million, daily allowance from Tk 1,000 to Tk 3,000 and discretionary fund from Tk 1 million to Tk 1.1 million.

Until now, the MPs have been getting Tk 27,500 monthly.

When the law minister on Thursday placed the bill related to their pay hike, opposition MPs demanded a greater hike.

Anisul Huq said, "We are increasing our own salaries. We have to be circumspect about this. We would've hiked it further if we could afford it.”

For the MPs, the expense sumptuary allowance has been raised from Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000, daily allowance from Tk 300 to Tk 750, and the size of discretionary funds from Tk 300,000 to Tk 500,000.

Their monthly allowance for expenses in their constituencies has been raised from Tk 7,500 to Tk 12,500. They will also now get Tk 70,000 as monthly travel allowance. The amount was Tk 40,000.

They MPs will get Tk 120,000 as annual inland travel in place of Tk 75,000. Their monthly laundry allowance has been raised from Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,500 and crockery allowance from Tk 4,000 to Tk 6,000.

A lawmaker from now on will also get Tk 15,000 in allowance for his or her office in the constituency in place of Tk 9,000.​