Government Raises Bank Borrowing to Pay New Pay-Scale Salary and Three Months' Arrears on 1 November; Tk 5,000 Crore to Be Raised Through 14-Day Special Bill
On 1 November, the government will pay government officers and employees according to the new pay scale. On that day, along with the October salary, arrears of the new salary for the previous three months will also be paid.
To meet this extra expenditure, the government has increased borrowing from banks this month. Bangladesh Bank has called an auction today for a 14-day special treasury bill. Through this auction, Tk 5,000 crore will be borrowed from the banking sector.
The government usually issues 91-day, 182-day and 364-day treasury bills to borrow from the country's banks. A 14-day treasury bill is issued for a short period when a temporary gap arises between revenue income and daily or monthly expenditure.
It is also learnt that there had been no need to issue such a special bill in recent times. This time, the special bill auction has been called just before salaries are paid under the new pay scale.
On the reason for the sudden special bill issue, a responsible official of the central bank's Debt Management Department, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government will pay officers and employees according to the new pay scale on Sunday, 1 November. Extra money is needed for this. Taking the matter into consideration, the auction for a 14-day treasury bill has been called.
Because, alongside the salary under the new pay structure, three months of arrears are to be paid on the same day, the amount payable on 1 November will be larger than a normal month's salary. The official's remarks indicated that this short-term borrowing from the banking sector has been undertaken to meet that extra amount.
