No, it is not the President, it is the governor of the Central Bank. Although the Acento article was written to emphasize the huge gap between the very highest-paid officials in the Dominican bureaucracy and the vast majority of government workers, it is interesting to see who are the highest paid government officials, their salaries and the positions that pay so well.
The governor of the Central Bank gets a check for RD$1.655 million (more than US$31,000) each month. In terms of the Dominican Republic, this is a lot of money. However, it pales in comparison to the minimum wage in Major League Baseball, which is now US$700,000. The deputy governor receives about RD$100,000 less per month.
A Central Bank manager receives RD$875,000, while the Superintendent of Insurance receives RD$800,000. The superintendent of Stocks gets a nice RD$770,00; the Superintendent of Electricity R$751.000, and curiously, considering the amount of money that flows through the Customs, the director general only gets about RD$631,000. The vice-president of Ede-Este receives RD$600,000, and the director general of the Tax Agency earns nearly the very same amount.
The wages usually are accompanied by numerous bonuses and other job perks.
The article stresses that the RD$933,000 average for these top 10 is out of proportion when compared to the national average of RD$28,000 and the average minimum wage of RD$14,000, especially when the average family food basket now costs nearly RD$33,000 each month. The author also stresses that over 20% of all government employees earn just RD$5,100 per month, and at the level of the municipalities, there are salaried personnel receiving RD$2,500 and RD$3,000.
Finally, it was noted that a survey of minimum wages in Latin America placed the DR in the 16th place out of 20, and ahead of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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Acento
29 August 2022