Finance Minister Ishaq Dar Saturday announced a 10 percent increase in civil servants'' salaries effective July 1, 2103. Finance Minister said that the government has to bear an additional burden of Rs 16.5 billion following its decision to allow 10 percent ad hoc allowance to the federal employees across the board.
The budget 2013-14 earmarked Rs 74 billion to be spent on salaries of government employees for next year which was Rs 5 billion more than the current fiscal year''s allocation of Rs 69 billion. The government has revised its June 11 allocation on June 15 by Rs 16.5 billion.
After an addition of 10 percent ad hoc allowance, the next year''s allocation will increase to Rs 90.5 billion. An employee of Establishment Division said that 20 percent rise in allowances of federal employees across the board had been given by caretaker government which was implemented immediately. He said the federal employees would get benefit of overall 30 percent increase in current calendar year.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday took the decision on the recommendation of a committee constituted to review the possibility of an increase in the salaries of government servants. The committee submitted its report on Saturday. The committee proposed 7.5 percent rise in the salaries considering 10 percent rise in pension, current level of inflation and economic condition of the country. However, Dar said with the approval of the Prime Minister, the government has increased it by 10 percent.
The budget 2013-14 has been widely criticised for not raising the salary of government employees'', while the prices of all commodities including milk, sugar, cigarettes, petrol, diesel and CNG moved up because of one percent increase in GST. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has put a burden on the salaried class with extra income tax ranging between Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 per annum by doubling the slabs from 6 to 12. On Friday, the federal employees had also protested outside Pak Secretariat and demanded a 20 percent raise.
Overall employee related expenses rose by Rs 40 billion (Rs 449 billion) in next financial year. In 2012-13, Rs 384 billion was allocated for employees related expenses which were revised to Rs 409 billion later in the same year. A substantial increase has been witnessed under the head of employee related expenses in next year''s budget; from the revised estimates of the current year''s Rs 409 billion to Rs 449 billion.
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