Singapore will increase the salaries of its political leaders, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong told parliament on Tuesday. His benchmark annual salary will rise by more than 60% to SgD 3.6 million (approximately Rs 27 crore).
The move is expected to further widen the pay gap between Singapore’s political leadership and ordinary citizens. However, the government maintains that competitive salaries are essential to attract capable individuals to public service and ensure effective governance.
Wong’s benchmark salary will increase from SgD 2.2 million (Rs 16.5 crore). The deputy prime minister’s benchmark pay will go up from SgD 1.87 million (Rs 14.02 crore) to SgD 3.06 million (Rs 22.94 crore).
Depending on seniority and the responsibilities attached to their portfolios, cabinet ministers will have benchmark salaries ranging from SgD 1.80 million (Rs 13.5 crore) to SgD 2.88 million (Rs 21.59 crore).
The revised figures are benchmark salaries and do not mean ministers will immediately receive the full amounts. Current political office holders will instead receive a one-time adjustment of up to 9% starting October 15, with subsequent changes determined by individual performance and responsibilities.
Wong said he would donate the entire increase in his own salary to appropriate charitable causes throughout his term.
"Political salaries are a difficult and emotive issue," Wong said, acknowledging that the amounts were significantly higher than what most Singaporeans earn.
According to the prime minister, the central question was whether Singapore would continue to attract the calibre of political leadership required to steer the country forward.
"Our starting point is this: good government depends on good leadership," he said.
Singapore last changed ministerial salaries 15 years ago. Wong said the latest increase followed recommendations from an independent committee.
However, the government had previously chosen not to act on similar recommendations. An independent review in 2017 had proposed an increase, but it was not implemented, while another review planned for 2023 was postponed.
Wong said the long-standing disparity between political salaries and earnings in other sectors was also making it increasingly difficult to bring new people into politics. Before the last general election, he personally approached several senior permanent secretaries in an effort to convince them to enter politics, but none agreed.
He also contacted several CEOs and senior executives from the private sector. None of them was willing to make the transition, Wong said, noting that some were earning several times more than a minister.
"None said to me directly that pay was the reason they would not join," Wong said. However, he argued that remuneration could not be completely disregarded when asking individuals to leave successful careers, accept lower incomes and contest elections without any assurance of victory.
Wong said the issue of succession was particularly urgent. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan, who oversee the trade, home affairs and foreign affairs portfolios respectively, will all be aged 70 or above by the next government term. He said Singapore needed the next generation of leaders to be prepared to take charge of key ministries.
According to Wong, bringing new talent from the public service was already becoming more difficult, while recruiting senior figures from the private sector posed an even greater challenge because executives can earn several million Singapore dollars annually. He said the revised salary system was not intended to match private-sector compensation, but rather to ensure that the financial cost of entering politics was not unnecessarily high.
The changes will not immediately raise every office holder’s salary to the new benchmark. Existing ministers will receive a one-time increase of up to 9% from October 15, with the exact adjustment depending on individual circumstances, including performance.
"Any subsequent changes will be based on individual performance and responsibilities," Wong said.
The revised framework will also reduce the number of ministerial salary grades from four to three while expanding the salary ranges within each grade. Wong said the changes would give the prime minister greater flexibility to set compensation based on performance and responsibilities.
For ministers in the lowest grade, the benchmark salary will increase from SgD 1.1 million to SgD 1.8 million. However, Wong said most ministers remaining in that grade could earn about SgD 1.35 million by the end of his current term, clarifying that SgD 1.8 million is not a target that every minister is expected to reach.
Members of Parliament will also see their allowances increase. Their monthly allowance will rise from SgD 13,750 to SgD 18,500 beginning October 15.
Singapore’s political leaders have long been among the world’s highest-paid politicians. The government has defended the arrangement on the grounds that it helps attract talent while reducing incentives for corruption. Singapore is consistently ranked among the countries with the lowest levels of corruption globally.
The country’s system is based on the principle that political salaries should remain competitive while still representing a significant discount compared with private-sector earnings. The government also refers to the arrangement as a "clean wage" system, under which salaries and benefits are openly disclosed instead of being supplemented by undisclosed perks or privileges.
Wong’s announcement comes as political salaries remain a sensitive issue in Singapore, where the ruling People’s Action Party continues to dominate parliament and the 21-member cabinet.
The government estimates that applying the maximum 9% adjustment to political office holders would increase its annual wage bill by around SgD 5 million. The higher allowances for MPs would add another SgD 6.6 million each year.
The revised salary framework will come into force on October 15. The government says the changes are intended less as a reward for current office holders and more as a way to ensure that future prime ministers have a strong pool of potential political leaders to draw from.
