Highest paid world leader to get salary increase of $1 million

Singapore will raise the annual salaries of its ministers and other office holders, including Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is the highest paid political leader in the world.

Wong’s annual pay package will rise by 1.4 million Singapore dollars ($1.1m; £818,000). He has said he will donate the increase to charity over the next five years.

Wong said the higher pay for ministers was needed to attract stronger talent. The government has long argued that paying ministers high salaries helps deter corruption.

Still, the decision has drawn criticism in Singapore, where there is deep concern about job security and the rising cost of living.

Even before the increase takes effect, Wong remains by far the world’s highest paid political leader.

He currently earns an annual salary of S$2.2m, and his pay will now rise by more than 60% to S$3.6m.

Next is Hong Kong chief executive John Lee, who earns about $719,000, followed by Switzerland’s president Guy Parmelin with $606,000.

US president Donald Trump earns $400,000 a year, while British PM Andy Burnham takes in $230,000.

On Tuesday, Wong acknowledged that ministers’ salaries have drawn scrutiny because they are far higher than what most citizens earn. The median monthly income in the country is 5,775 Singapore dollars.

But he said he has struggled to persuade business leaders and top civil servants to enter politics.

While the government cannot match what some of these people earn, “we do not make the financial hurdle unnecessarily high” for them to give up their careers and join politics, he said.

“Overall, I believe this will give me and future prime ministers a better chance of persuading capable Singaporeans to step forward, and of building the strongest possible team for Singapore,” he said.

At present, the base pay package for ministers is about S$1.1m. Under the new pay scheme, that will rise to around S$1.2m.

But Wong said he expects most ministers to receive even more than that — around S$1.35m — by the end of the current term of government, as pay will increase based on performance.

Part of their pay package depends on whether the country meets certain targets for unemployment rate, income growth, and GDP growth.

High salaries for Singapore’s ministers have long been a lightning rod for criticism of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed the country since independence.

In a landmark general election in 2011, the PAP recorded its lowest vote share in decades, driven partly by voters’ unhappiness over ministers’ pay as well as immigration policies. The following year, the government cut ministers’ salaries.

Wong’s predecessor, Lee Hsien Loong, had also pledged in 2007 to donate his salary increase to charity for several years.

For years, the government has pointed to its lack of corruption — Singapore consistently ranks near the top of Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index — as evidence that the ministerial pay system works, arguing that it reduces the temptation for ministers to accept bribes or develop

But in a country where the annual median income is far below such sums, the issue continues to cause resentment, and the latest announcement was no exception.

On Tuesday, many people online posted comments criticizing the pay raise, calling it “tone deaf” given current concerns about retrenchments, jobs for fresh graduates and inflation.

Retrenchments in Singapore reached their highest level in more than five years in the last quarter, according to government figures.

But a few supported the move, saying it was necessary to have “the best of the best” running the country.