Increase in salaries: Employees term it ‘goodwill’ gesture from govt

Islamabad : The federal government employees have termed the decision of 35 percent increase in monthly salaries as goodwill gesture of the coalition government towards them in the face of rising pricehike and inflation.

Azizullah Khan, a government employee, said "We were not expecting such an increase in monthly salaries as the finance minister was constantly talking about lack of financial resources. But it is a pleasant surprise and we appreciate the government for this timely decision." He said "Now the government should take effective measures to neutralise the price-hike and food inflation so that the common people can spend an honourable life. We laud this effort of the government to provide much-needed relief to the government employees."

It is pertinent to mention here that the finance ministry suggested 20 per cent increase in monthly salaries of the federal government employees. But the federal cabinet in its pre-budget meeting decided to increase the salaries by 35 per cent due to increasing price-hike. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published a Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) in which it stated that the Pakistani government would not grant any more subsidies without its prior consent.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) based monthly inflation skyrocketed to an all-time high of 36.4% on a year-over-year basis in April 2023 compared to 35.4% in the previous month and 13.4% in April 2022. Amir Hussain, another government employee, said, “We have been suffering because of increasing prices and waiting for a sigh of relief from the government. Fortunately, the government came up with a good decision in the budget and considerably increase our monthly salaries.” “Hopefully, the government will continue to provide relief to the people who are facing really hard times due to pricehike. The government should also reduce gas and electricity prices as common people are no more able to afford these ‘luxuries’,” he said.