Bangladesh Bank officials said the new national pay scale discriminates against them and will discourage efficient people from joining the central bank.

The central bank officials under the banner of BB Officers' Welfare Council demonstrated at their office yesterday and held a press conference.

They said an entry level official or an assistant director at the central bank used to get the eighth grade, along with government cadre officials and public university lecturers, in the previous pay structure.

“Now the assistant directors of the central bank have been pushed down to the ninth grade. But the cadre service officials and public university lecturers have been given the eighth grade,” said Siddiqur Rahman, president of the officers' council.

“We have been downgraded. It is discrimination,” said Shahriar Hossain, general secretary of the platform.

According to the new pay scale approved in September, the basic pay for an eighth grade officer has been set at Tk 23,000, while it is Tk 22,000 for the ninth grade. In the previous pay scale, the amount was Tk 12,000 for an eighth grade officer.

Basic salary of civil servants will almost double under the new national pay scale with the employees in the lower rungs getting the highest percentage of raise.

In the highest level among the 20 grades, basic salary will rise 95 percent to Tk 78,000 (fixed), and in the lowest grade 101 percent to Tk 8,250.

BB officials have long been demanding a separate pay structure as their salaries are poor compared to their counterparts at commercial banks. They said they had earlier been promised a separate pay scale.