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SINGAPORE: Ministers and top civil servants will get a pay cut of up to 19 per cent next year. The Civil Service is also reducing the year-end bonus payment for this year.
Top civil servants and ministers were supposed to get a pay rise in January next year to bring their salaries in line with private sector pay.
It was to be the third adjustment to bring public sector pay to 88 per cent of the private sector benchmark, a move announced in April 2007.
The benchmark is set at two-thirds of the median pay of the top eight earners in each of the six sectors: multinational corporations, lawyers, bankers, accountants, local manufacturers and engineers.
In April 2007 and January this year, the salaries of top civil servants and ministers were revised to keep pace with soaring private sector salaries. But the Public Service Division said the 2009 salary revision for this group has now been deferred, in view of the clouded economic outlook.
In fact, the annual salary for top civil servants and ministers will fall next year to levels below April 2007, because close to 25 per cent of their annual salary comprises variable payments linked to the GDP growth of Singapore and their salary will fall as long as the economy remains weak.
In 2009, the Prime Minister and President will see their annual salaries cut by 19 per cent. Ministers and Senior Permanent Secretaries will see an 18 per cent fall. The allowance for Members of Parliament will be cut by 16 per cent.
Commenting on the pay cut, Mr Teo Chee Hean, Minister in charge of the Civil Service, said: "Public sector salaries follow the market up and down. The mechanism we introduced last year to link a significant proportion of the salary of senior civil servants to the performance of the economy is working as intended. This mechanism allows salaries to respond more rapidly to market conditions."
The Public Service Division also said the Prime Minister has and will continue to donate all increases in his own salary after the April 2007 revisions, to good causes for five years.
Next year, the Prime Minister will actually see his salary fall to pre-revision levels.
As for civil servants such as teachers and police officers, they are getting a total of two months' bonus payment this year, plus S$100 to S$300 paid out in July. This comprises the 13th month payment or Annual Wage Supplement and a one-month Annual Variable Component or AVC. The year-end AVC has been reduced to 0.5 month.
Last year, the total bonus payment was three months plus S$220, including a half-month Growth Bonus which was paid for the exceptional economic performance in 2007.
- CNA/ir
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