By Xinghui Kok and Jun Yuan Yong
SINGAPORE, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Top ministers in Singapore will discuss ministerial salaries in parliament on Tuesday, a sensitive and closely watched topic in the city-state, where political office comes with high rates of pay in order to attract talent and deter graft.
Singapore pays its political leaders the highest salary in the world, with a junior minister taking home S$1,100,000 ($868,055.56) annually and the prime minister earning S$2,200,000 ($1.74 million) a year.
The salaries have not been adjusted since 2012, when ministers took a 36% pay cut to allay public discontent about how much they earned.
High ministerial salaries are a sensitive issue among the population, where the median income was just S$5,775 in 2025. Meanwhile, inflation crept up to 2% in July, with the central bank expecting the figure to remain elevated until the second half of 2027.
According to data from non-profit PoliticalSalaries.com, the Hong Kong chief executive is the second-highest earner globally with $719,000 annually, followed by the Swiss president at $606,000.
In comparison, the British prime minister makes $230,000 while U.S. President Donald Trump earns $400,000.
After the 2012 pay cut, the government reviewed salaries again in 2017 but chose not to adopt a committee recommendation to hike.
A second review due in 2023 was deferred till now because of economic uncertainty.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing will provide the government’s response to a committee’s recommendations on ministerial salaries. Lawmakers will debate the issue later in the week.
Singapore uses the salary of the top 1,000 Singaporean earners as a benchmark for ministerial pay, saying the qualities and abilities of the top 1,000 “reflect the desired calibre of the people whom Singapore needs for good government”, according to the website of the country’s Public Service Division.
The high salaries are meant to attract top talent and prevent corruption, and cases of graft by senior officials have been rare.
In a recent case, former transport minister S. Iswaran was jailed in 2024 for obstructing justice and receiving more than $300,000 worth of gifts.
($1 = 1.267 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Editing by David Stanway)
