Singapore PM takes a pay cut to $1.99 mn

SINGAPORE: Salaries for Singapore politicians, who are amongst the highest paid in the world, will be cut by up to 19 percent next year due to a weakening economy, media reported on Monday.

Singapore ministers, who are paid millions each year, have a component in their salary that is pegged to economic growth and with Singapore in a recession and the outlook gloomy for next year, this variable will fall, Channel NewsAsia said on its website, quoting the government's Public Services Division.

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose pay was increased to S$3.76 million ($2.46 million) this year -- or five times that of U.S. President George W. Bush -- will see his salary fall to S$3.04 million ($1.99 million).

The Southeast Asian country has said it needed to pay top dollar to compete with top private sector salaries and to retain talent in the public sector, as the city-state becomes a growing centre for financial services. The downturn has also hit the private sector, with the country's biggest bank DBS Group and shipping firm NOL laying off staff.

State wealth fund Temasek, headed by Ho Ching, the wife of the prime minister, also said on Friday that senior managers had volunteered to take pay cuts of between 15 to 25 per cent.