Xi still lowest paid major world leader despite pay rise

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-01-23

Chinese president Xi Jinping visits earthquake victims in southwest China's
. Yunnan province on Jan. 21, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)

Despite a huge pay rise, Chinese president Xi Jinping is still among the lowest paid heads of state in the world, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

Xi received a sizable monthly salary bump of 61.6% from 7,020 yuan (US$1,130) to 11,385 yuan (US$1,835) as part of an across-the-board raise for civil servants recently announced by Beijing.

This places Xi's official annual salary at roughly US$22,000 based on current exchange rates, just ahead of Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong's US$21,800 but still significantly behind US president Barack Obama's US$400,000.

Xi's salary also pales in comparison to that of other major world leaders. According to The Economist, Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung earns about US$545,000 a year, while Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou takes home about US$178,000. In Europe, French president Francois Hollande's annual salary is US$300,000, just ahead of German chancellor Angela Merkel's US$280,000. Russian president Vladimir Putin is believed to earn about US$115,000 a year.

Official Chinese government documents indicate that civil servant salaries in the future will be adjusted once every one to two years unless there are major incidents such as a financial crisis. The extent of the adjustment will depend on the country's overall economic development, financial situation and inflation indicators.

Related Article:

CEO pay: Tim Cook vs Jamie Dimon