Highest Paid President & Prime Minister

The Economic recession has hit one and all, salary cuts and pink slips have
taken their toll on the common man. Presidents, Prime Ministers are no
exception. Most of the heads have cut down on their salaries or are planning
to do so in the near future. Lets take a look at what the heads of top nations
are earning

Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
(Country GDP: $235.6 billion - 2008)
Politicians in Singapore are amongst the most highly paid government officials in

the world. Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore earns five times more

than the American President. Lee Hsien Loong takes an annual salary of $2.46

million.

Barack Obama, USA
(Country GDP: $13.81 trillion - 2007)
Second on the list is the President of the biggest economy of the world with a

GDP of $13.81 trillion (2007). President Elect, Barack Obama will be getting

an annual salary of $400,000 when he joins office next year.

Kevin Rudd, Australia
(Country GDP: $773 billion - 2007)
Third on the list is the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd with an annual

salary of $330,300.

Angela Merkel, Germany
(Country GDP: $2.585 trillion - 2006)
The first lady chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel receives an annual salary

of € 242,000 (€ 22000 bonus included) ~ $ 307,340.

Nicolas Sarkozy, France
(Country GDP: $1.871 trillion - 2006)
The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy gets an annual salary of

€ 240,000 ~ $ 304,800. This is after he doubled his salary earlier this year.

Stephen Harper, Canada
(Country GDP: $1.274 trillion - 2007)
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of the seventh largest economy of the world,

Canada recieves an annual salary of $280,000.

Gordon Brown, UK
(Country GDP: $2.772 trillion - 2007)
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the second biggest economy in Europe

and fifth largest in the world receives an annual salary of € 187611

~ $238,266.

Vladimir Putin, Russia
(Country GDP: $2.076 trillion -2007)
The Russian Prime Minister recieve an annual salary of $81,190, which

is significantly less than his counterparts.

Wonder why Lee get such a huge salary (>5x more than everybody else).

Temasik? PAP? No strong opposition party? Violence? Use your imagination...