GDP Bonus of 8 Months for Senior Civil Servants

29

Senior civil servants will get 8 months of GDP Bonus this year. This was announced in Parliament yesterday by DPM Teo Chee Hean.

Annual salaries of senior officers in government are “automatically linked” to GDP growth. When GDP growth is 2% or below, the bonus will be zero. As such, these senior civil servants did not get the GDP bonus in the past 2 years.

However, the 8 months bonus to be given out this year more than makes up for their “loss” in 2009 and 2010, in my opinion.

There’s also a curious fact that emerged from what DPM Teo said (emphasis mine):

“GDP Bonus … accounts for a maximum of one-quarter of the annual salary of senior officers, or eight months, when the GDP growth exceeds 10 per cent.”

This implies that the total annual salary of senior officers is actually 8 months x 4 = 32 months!

Whoa.

Suppose an administrative officer (AO) who’s in the lowest superscale grade of SR9 earns $18,240 per month (this figure was for 2008; it should have gone up by now).

Does this mean he will be getting an eye-popping $583,680 this year?

Whoa!

Take note that some of these AOs are around 32 years old only! It’s the reason why their salaries are pegged to the 15th top earner aged 32 years belonging to 6 selected professions.

Share.

About Author

29 Comments

  1. half a million dollars for young punks with little or no risk of losing their jobs. no wonder the government is producing so many snobbish leaders with pro-rich snobbish policies that benefit the rich. raise gst to help the poor! my foot.

  2. wait a minute. don’t think we can assume that the junior AOs will also be getting 8mths right?
    i wonder how “senior” the GDP Bonus payments start. i have a friend who’s quite senior in the SPF and he says that he gets nothing.

  3. is your fren in superscale grade? if so, he should already be happy getting >18k a month. if not, he’s obviously not senior enough.

  4. What they get in 1 year is what my parents save in a lifetime. My parents aren’t low income earners and my family lead a comfortable life without getting bumper bonuses and fat annual paychecks. Why do these civil servants need so much money for? Buy a jet?

  5. [quote]
    There’s also a curious fact that emerged from what DPM Teo said (emphasis mine):

    “GDP Bonus … accounts for a maximum of one-quarter of the annual salary of senior officers, or eight months, when the GDP growth exceeds 10 per cent.”

    This implies that the total annual salary of senior officers is actually 8 months x 4 = 32 months!
    [/quote]

    That was how I first read his quote too. Perhaps I can help you understand it better, the way it’s supposed to mean.

    “GDP Bonus … accounts for a maximum of one-quarter of the annual salary of senior officers; or eight months, when the GDP growth exceeds 10 per cent.”

    I admire your effort in pushing for political changes in Singapore, however, in this case, there needs to be a clarification of your inference. Not everyone who reads your post will critically evaluate it, and your good work might end up misleading your faithful readers.

  6. So is the 8 months in addition to the normal 12 months of base pay? That will make the annual pay 20 months right?

    But 8 / 20 is 40%, which breaches the “maximum of one-quarter” limit.

    No matter how I look at it, I still dun understand the “max 1/4” thing.

    Can some insider please comment? I guess outsiders can only speculate based on the few words spoken by DPM Teo.

  7. it doesn’t display properly, here it is, if GDP less than 2%, 0 bouns, if more than 2% but less than 10%, max 1/4 annual bonus, if more than 10%, max 8 months bonus

  8. This is the original quote from the minister:

    “GDP Bonus is zero if GDP growth is two per cent or below, but accounts for a maximum of one-quarter of the annual salary of senior officers, or eight months, when the GDP growth exceeds 10 per cent,” said DPM Teo.

    End quote

    I still interpret is as “max 1/4 of annual pay, WHICH WILL BE 8 mths when GDP exceeds 10%”.

    Are you an insider? Or are you also interpreting what the minister said?

  9. no, i’m not an insider, interpreting the same minister quote, I’m puzzled at first as well but think my interpretion makes sense.

  10. I’m not an insider. But I know that besides GDP bonus, there’s also a performance bonus. I think the range of performance bonus for Ministers and senior civil servants may have been mentioned before in Parliament.

  11. They get “average” of 9 months performance bonus and “up to” 8 months of GDP bonus. This is of course obviously on top of their 12 months base pay. Read the last paragraph of the quoted article below.

    Hence, the total: 29 months for “average” performer.

    I suppose “better” performers may get 32 months. The blogger is correct in a way.

    Found the article here:

    http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20071213-41009.html

    QUOTE

    With the pay revision, the annual salary for President SR Nathan will go up from $3.1 million this year to $3.87 million in 2008, the Prime Minister’s from $3.09 million to $3.76 million, ministers and senior permanent secretaries, from $1.593 million to $1.94 million, entry superscale grade Admin officers, from $384,000 to $398,000 and MPs, from $216,300 to $225,000 (see tables below).

    Their pay increases will come in the form of a higher monthly salary and a fatter performance bonus.

    For instance, ministers at the entry grade of MR4 will get an average of 9 months performance bonus, on top of the GDP bonus, which can fall between 3 and 8 months, depending on econommic growth.

    END QUOTE

  12. Why did they ask Singaporeans to be cheaper, better and faster when they themselves can’t be cheaper, better and faster?

    Is it a case of 岳不群 说一套 做一套?

  13. Senior got more payout for the GDP Bonus while the junior got the less is it fair…As leaders must show a good example….Why pay extra million dollars a year for those unwanted minister those age already beyond retirement age….Small country need 3 minister but big country need only 1 president or 1 minister to run the country…Sad but true…..

  14. Pingback: Biomedical Engineering ..what are the prospects - Page 2 - Salary.sg Forums

  15. This is crazy… we pay so much tax etc and the infaltion rate is so high… most middle-income as the govt classified as is being the new poor and then we hear news abt senior civil servants getting so much in bonus? being a civil servant has certainly lost it’s meaning…

  16. If you can’t beat them, join them.

    So… how do I be senior officer in the civil service? Do I have to be old? Or know/marry someone with connections?

  17. i heard there is still one single Lee. u can marry her & maybe also become head of some fashionable instituition.

  18. All I can say is ; don’t know what to say. We elected a group of greedy elites; that also explain why Singaporean’s taxation is so compreshensive. I guess only air is free now; or perhaps one day we will be charged breathing levy?

Reply To Simple Cancel Reply