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Singapore leaders take pay cut as coronavirus batters global economy
- Government ministers, whose salaries can cross a million dollars a year, will take a one month pay cut
- Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat says this is to ‘show solidarity with fellow Singaporeans’
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Singapore’s government ministers will take a one-month cut in their salaries that can cross a million dollars a year, in an unprecedented move by the trade-reliant economy as it reels from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak that has upended supply chains and battered financial markets.
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Members of Parliament will also take a one-month pay cut to their allowances, while senior public service officers will have a half-month reduction in their salaries.
President Halimah Yacob also volunteered to have her pay cut by a month, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said in Parliament on Friday, as he wrapped up a debate on the budget he presented last week.
A 2012 White Paper on government salaries recommended that entry-level ministers earn S$1.1 million (US$786,600) a year, with bonuses making up about 35 per cent of the package. This means a one-month salary reduction would reduce their annual package by about 5.4 per cent.
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The prime minister earns twice as much, at S$2.2 million, although this does not include a performance bonus, then-Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament in 2018. Members of Parliament get an allowance that averages around S$16,000 a month.
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