DNA:
New Delhi: Friday, 13 March 2015.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi is the 11th highest paid world leader, ahead of the
Chinese head of state, according to a report by CNN.
Quoting
information obtained from an RTI application, Modi's annual salary is pegged at
Rs 1,900,000 (a little over $30,000). Meanwhile, China's Xi Jinping, the president
of the second highest economy with a GDP of $10 trillion, is twelfth on the
list, earning $22,000. And this salary figure is only after a 60% pay hike
early this year!
Using
official data from across the globe, the report has complied a list of top
earning world leaders belonging to both developed and developing nations.
Not
surprisingly, President of the world's biggest economy United States' Barack
Obama tops the list earning $4,00,000. This excludes the tax free expense
account of $50,000, the report adds.
Other BRICS
leaders too figure in the list. South African President Jacob Zuma leads the
pack by being the fourth highest paid world leader getting $2,23,500. Russian
President Vladimir Putin earns $1,36,000 after taking a pay cut following the
country's worst economic crisis in years. He is ranked eighth on the list.
Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff is the tenth highest paid head of state
taking home $1,20,000. Brazil and Russia are the seventh and ninth largest
economies respectively, based on their GDPs in 2014. India is the tenth largest
economy.
Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and Germany's Angela Merkel come in at third and fourth
place respectively on the salary metre. While Harper earns $2,60,000, the
German chancellor earns $2,34,400.
Other world
leaders higher up in the rung include UK PM David Cameron at fifth place and
earning $2,14,800. He is followed by Japan's Shinzo Abe with $202,700 and
French President Francois Hollande with $194,300 at sixth and seventh place
respectively. Italian PM Matteo Renzi makes it to the ninth spot earning $1,24,600.