Singapore raises ministers' pay after 15 years to attract political talent

Singapore has approved its first rise in ministers' pay in 15 years after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong addressed Parliament. He said the move is needed to attract capable leaders, even as political salaries remain a sensitive public issue.Image used for representational purposes onlySingapore will raise ministers' pay for the first time in 15 years, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong saying the government cannot attract capable people into politics if salaries stay unchanged. Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Wong said the revised framework would also raise allowances for other lawmakers.Under the new framework, the benchmark annual pay for a minister at the lowest grade will go up to SGD 1.8 million from SGD 1.1 million. The benchmark salary for the prime minister will rise to SGD 3.6 million from SGD 2.2 million. Wong said the changes are aimed at helping the government build a strong team, while keeping the system open and published.The ministers receiving the raise are elected lawmakers who head ministries and help shape national policy. However, Wong said ministers and other political officeholders will not move immediately to the new benchmark. Instead, they will get a one-time adjustment of up to 9 per cent from October 15, with the increase based on performance and responsibilities.Wong said he expects most ministers at the lowest grade to earn about SGD 1.35 million by the end of the current term. After that, salaries will continue to vary according to performance and responsibilities, rather than automatically rising to the benchmark of SGD 1.8 million. He did not say what his own salary would be, although a 9 per cent adjustment would take it to SGD 2.4 million. Wong said he would donate his entire salary increase to charity for the next five years. Political pay remains a sensitive issue in Singapore because ministers earn far more than most citizens, and the prime minister's salary is among the highest for national leaders globally. The government has long defended the system, saying it is needed to attract capable people from the private sector and public service and to maintain a clean government.Wong said Singapore had chosen to deal with political pay openly, with no hidden salary components or perks outside the published framework. “Good government did not come naturally to Singapore. It was built deliberately over many years. And there is nothing automatic about sustaining this,” he said. He said the government understood why Singaporeans closely examine ministers' pay, but argued that the issue could not be avoided simply because it was uncomfortable. According to Wong, ministerial salaries had increasingly fallen behind comparable earnings in the private sector and civil service, making a review necessary. The framework uses the median income of Singapore's top 1,000 citizen earners as a reference point, with a 40 per cent discount to reflect the nature of political service.Wong said the new scheme would give him and future prime ministers “a better chance of persuading capable Singaporeans to step forward, and of building the strongest possible team for Singapore”. The government said the framework would be reviewed every five years. The current system was put in place after a 2011 review and was debated in Parliament in 2012, when salaries were cut by about 36 per cent after public concern. A 2017 review later suggested adjustments, but they were not implemented, and a review due in 2023 was deferred. Overall, the changes mark the first revision in 15 years, with Singapore linking political pay to recruitment, performance and transparency.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 8, 2026 18:26 IST