Central bankers’ salaries draw senators’ ire

ISLAMABAD: The disclosure that many officers of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are drawing monthly salaries higher than the two-year emoluments of a lawmaker irked senators on Friday, who called into question the performance of those overburdening the exchequer.

Caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar, during Question Hour in the Senate, informed the house that SBP officers in OG-8, the highest grade, were drawing salaries ranging between Rs1.7 million and Rs3.9 million per month.

She said the total number of SBP employees was 1,078 and a budget of Rs6.8 billion had been allocated for their salaries and benefits for FY2022-23.

At this, Senator Danesh Kumar said that being an autonomous organisation does not mean the employees should draw salaries of around four million rupees a month. “I thought it is their annual salary,” he remarked.

He pointed out that the salaries and perks of the governor and deputy governor were missing in the information provided to the Senate. On this, the minister assured the house that this information will be provided as well.

She recalled that independence had been given to SBP by the previous government through parliamentary approval, under which the SBP management was accountable to a board of directors.

Senator Palwasha Khan sought to know as to what was so special about the SBP officers’ work which qualifies them to get such massive salaries at a time when the common man was finding it difficult to make both ends meet, and the country has to beg to the IMF to avert a default.

She pointed out that senators and MNAs draw Rs160,000 per month and yet they face criticism on social and mainstream media.

“I am not here to defend the SBP,” Ms Akhtar said in response, but pointed out that this gradual increase in pay structure was made under the oversight of various governments.

She said the SBP’s job was to manage the monetary policy, regulate the banking sector and coordinate with the finance ministry on economy. She claimed that an incentive regime was essential to effectively regulate and supervise the banks.

Meanwhile, through a calling-attention notice, PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani invited the attention of the government towards a massive disparity in salaries.

Referring to a recent notification issued by the ministry of finance, Mr Rabbani regretted that on the one hand rates of electricity and gas were being repeatedly increased on International Monetary Fund demands while on the other hand, the government’s expenditures continue to swell.

Rejecting the common perception that the parliament was a heavy burden on the national kitty, he said colossal funds were being wasted on civil bureaucracy.

He said 164 retired military and civil officers were being paid pension abroad in the foreign currency. “What is the justification for this,” he asked.

The PPP senator warned that if the federal government does not control the expenditures of the bureaucracy, then the provinces, specially the three smaller ones, can demand to collect all taxes themselves.

Drawing a comparison between workers and civil servants, he said the minimum wage of an unskilled worker in the country was Rs32,000 while the initial Basic Pay of BPS-1 to BPS-5 salary was Rs14,390 on an average and that of BPS-5 to BPS-15 employees was Rs22,840. He said a senator draws a salary of around Rs150,000.

On the contrary, he said, the recent MP-I, MP-II and MP-III pay raise includes basic salary, house rent and utilities as approved by the caretaker prime minister which are distinct from career bureaucrats.

“The MP-I scale begins from Rs554,600, basic salary, house rent and utilities with a terminal amount of Rs699,250 per month and it would now be Rs804,180 and Rs1013,920 per month, respectively,” he said.

Mr Rabbani said that officers in this grade would also be drawing Rs95,910 per month for transport allowance, taking the revised monthly package of between Rs 900,090 and Rs1,109,830. Likewise, he said, the MP-II scale package was Rs255,750 and Rs413,600 per month, now it ranges from Rs370,850 to Rs599,740, whereas the monthly monetisation allowance for this scale will be Rs77,430.

The MP-III grade officer used to get Rs165,855 to Rs233,750 per month, he said, and the amount has now been revised to Rs240,460 and Rs338,960, apart from a monetisation allowance of Rs65,060.

The relevant ministries and divisions, he noted, have been asked to meet the expenditure arising out of these revisions from their allocated budget for the current fiscal year. Responding to his calling-attention notice, caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar explained that the MP scale has been introduced to induct professionals from the private sector who would help the public sector and their packages have been revised by the governments and at present there are technical problems in energy and finance.

“I am just explaining the rationale and not justifying anything. We (governments) were asked to modernise the structure so we brought this MP scale,” she added.