Bizarre Government wages: Banks chief makes more than Barack Obama

Santo Domingo. – There are Government officials who make 8 times as much as a colleague of the same category, a severe distortion of salary scales long recognized in the public sector.

The bizarre disparity is such that the salaries of several ministers, and other heads of departments are several times higher than that of the President himself.

One example is the Tourism minister who makes RD$75,000 monthly; his colleague in Foreign Relations earns RD$300,000, compared with the President’s 90,000.

A study by the civic movement Citizen Participation (PC) quoted by eldia.com.do reveals that 10 different wage scales among the top officials in 18 ministries, from a low of the Land Transit Agency director’s RD$60,000, to the Internal Taxes chief’s more than half s million.

The list

The president of the Dominican Telecomm Institute (Indotel) earns a whopping RD$515,506 per month, but much lower than the Banks superintendent’s RD$1.5 million, which is more than the president of the world’s richest country, Barack Obama, whose paycheck equals RD$1.3 million per month.

Banks superintendent Haivanjoe NG Cortiñas’ salary is 11,800% higher than the minimum wage.