Singapore will increase the pay of Prime Minister Lee Hsien-loong and President S.R. Nathan by 25 percent as the government revises the salaries of its officials, said Teo Chee Hean, minister-in-charge of the civil service.
Lee will be paid S$3.1 million (US$2.1 million) annually, Teo said in parliament yesterday.
The starting salary for new ministers, which includes bonuses, will rise to S$1.6 million from S$1.2 million a year, said Teo, who is also defense minister.
The salaries put the country's ministers among the world's highest-paid government officials.
Singapore has said that the better compensation has helped draw talent from the private sector and prevent corruption in the 41-year-old country, which has a population of 4.5 million.
The pay raise also comes as the US$134 billion economy enjoys its longest expansion in six years.
"As long as the economic performance remains robust, people won't begrudge their healthy compensation," said David Cohen, an economist at Action Economics in Singapore.
Lee's salary is five times higher than the US$400,000 US President George W. Bush receives a year, Bloomberg data showed.
Still, it is a third of the overall pay for Wee Cho Yaw, chairman of United Overseas Bank Ltd, Singapore's second-biggest lender, who is the highest-paid executive at a local bank.
Lee will also receive a bonus tied to the performance of the economy, Teo said. Top civil servants could receive an additional bonus equivalent to seven months' pay based on their performance, he added.
The monthly allowance for members of parliament will increase to S$13,200 from S$11,900, he said.
The salary revision will increase the government's wage bill by 4.7 percent, or S$214 million.
The amount budgeted for the salaries of top officials will increase by 23 percent to S$56 million.
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