(September 22 – 15:50 ET) – Donald Johnston, the Canadian secretary-general at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, makes more than U.S. Federal Reserve Board chair Alan Greenspan, according to today’s issue of the Economist.
The paper looks at the salaries of the heads of world institutions and finds Greenspan to be among the worst paid. Greenspan, the most influential person in the economic world, makes just US$141,000 a year in taxable salary. Johnston by contrast picks up just as much salary tax free and a free Paris apartment, valued by the Economist at US$50,000 annually.
IMF top dog, Horst Köhler, takes home about US$364,000 tax free and the head of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, gets a little more than that. This focus on pay comes because the IMF has begun disclosing its executive salaries ahead of next week’s annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in Prague.
Also listed, Andrew Crockett, head of the Bank for International Settlements, pockets about US$350,000 tax free. As head of the UN, Kofi Annan receives a little more than US$250,000, and WTO chief Mike Moore gets a little less. U.S. president Bill Clinton earns US$200,000, and Larry Summers, U.S. treasury secretary, garners a taxable US$157,000. So much for the meritocracy.
-IE Staff