The Bangladesh government has stepped back from a proposal to halve the monthly vehicle maintenance allowance for senior public officials after facing strong resistance from within the civil service, exposing the challenges of pursuing fiscal restraint while managing an influential bureaucracy.

An inter-ministerial meeting scheduled for Thursday to discuss reducing the allowance from Tk50,000 to Tk25,000 was postponed after the government signalled that it would not proceed with the proposal for now, officials said.

The Ministry of Public Administration confirmed that the meeting, which was due to include representatives from the Armed Forces Division, the Election Commission and the Judicial Service, had been called off following instructions from higher authorities.

"We have not received any formal letter," said Mohammad Sakhawat Hossain, an additional secretary at the ministry. "We were informed that the matter has been postponed, so our meeting was also postponed."

The proposed cut followed a letter sent by the Finance Division to the Ministry of Public Administration on 9 July, asking it to take the necessary steps to reduce the monthly vehicle maintenance allowance for officials who had purchased vehicles through interest-free government loans.

The Finance Division argued that the measure would help ensure more efficient use of limited public resources, ease inflationary pressure and support macroeconomic stability. The proposal cited guidance from the prime minister to reduce the allowance from Tk50,000 to Tk25,000 per month.

Rather than prescribing how the reduction should be implemented, the Finance Division tasked the Ministry of Public Administration with consulting relevant ministries and developing an implementation mechanism.

The proposal, however, quickly triggered discontent across the bureaucracy.

Senior government officials argued that vehicle operating costs had risen sharply in recent years and that the existing allowance no longer covered actual expenses. According to officials familiar with the discussions, maintaining a government-authorised private vehicle now costs around Tk67,000 a month, significantly above the current reimbursement of Tk50,000.

Officials warned that cutting the allowance further would increase their personal financial burden and could undermine morale within the civil service.

The allowance forms part of a broader package of benefits available to officials entitled to government transport facilities. Deputy secretaries and officers of higher rank receive interest-free loans of up to Tk3 million to purchase vehicles. Those who choose to use privately owned vehicles instead of official transport receive a monthly maintenance allowance.

The same benefit also extends to military officers from the rank of major and above, district judges and senior members of the judicial service, as well as officials of equivalent rank in the Election Commission.

Officials involved in the consultations said the Ministry of Public Administration concluded that reducing the allowance at this stage could create unnecessary dissatisfaction across several branches of government without delivering a significant fiscal benefit.

The government has recently adopted a series of austerity measures aimed at containing public expenditure amid inflationary pressure and broader efforts to strengthen macroeconomic stability. Those measures have included restrictions on foreign travel, limits on government spending and tighter controls on new development projects.

The decision to suspend the allowance reduction nevertheless highlights the political and administrative constraints facing the government as it attempts to balance fiscal discipline with maintaining support within the public administration.

For now, the monthly vehicle maintenance allowance will remain unchanged at Tk50,000 while the government reviews its next course of action.