Singapore raises ministers' salaries and donates the excess to charity

The Singapore government announced that it will raise the annual salaries of its ministers and other office holders, including the Prime Minister, who is considered the highest-paid political leader in the world.

Lawrence Wong will receive a S$1.4 million (US$1.1 million; £818,000) increase in his annual salary. He stated that he would donate this increase to charitable causes over the next five years.

Wong said that raising ministers' salaries is necessary to attract outstanding talent. The government had previously claimed that paying high salaries to ministers deters corruption.

But the move has been criticized in Singapore, where there is serious concern about job security and the high cost of living.

Even before the increase was implemented, Wong was still the highest-paid leader in the world by a wide margin.

Wong currently receives an annual salary of 2.2 million Singapore dollars, and his salary will now increase by more than 60 percent, to 3.6 million Singapore dollars (2.8 million US dollars).

He is followed in the ranking by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, John Lee, who earns about 719,000 US dollars, and then the Swiss President, Guy Parmelin, with a salary of 606,000 US dollars.

US President Donald Trump receives 400,000 US dollars annually, while British Prime Minister Andy Burnham receives 230,000 US dollars.

On Tuesday, Wong acknowledged that the salaries of Singapore's ministers have sparked widespread controversy because they are much higher than what the majority of citizens receive. While the average monthly income in the country is 5,775 Singapore dollars.

But he said he had difficulty convincing business leaders and senior civil servants to run for political office.

Although the government cannot keep up with what some of them earn, “we are not making the financial bar unjustifiably high” for them to give up their jobs and join politics, he said.

"Overall, I believe this will give me and future prime ministers a better opportunity to persuade competent Singaporeans to stand, and to build the strongest possible team for Singapore," he added.

The basic salary of ministers is currently about 1.1 million Singapore dollars. With the new salary system, this salary will rise to about S$1.2 million.

But Wong said he expects most of these ministers to receive more than that - about S$1.35 million - by the end of the government's current term, as salaries will increase based on performance.

Part of their salary package is determined based on the extent to which the country achieves specific targets in the unemployment rate, income growth, and gross domestic product growth.

The issue of high salaries for Singapore's ministers has long been a source of sharp criticism for the ruling People's Action Party, which has led the country since independence.

In a historic general election in 2011, the PAP recorded its lowest voter turnout in decades, partly due to voter dissatisfaction with ministers' salaries and immigration policies. The following year, the government significantly reduced ministers' salaries.

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

The government pointed to the lack of corruption in it, as Singapore consistently ranks high in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, as evidence of the success of the ministerial salary system, under the pretext that it reduces the temptation of ministers to accept bribes.