HAMILTON, Bermuda, Mar 7, CMC – Bermuda’s MPs have passed a resolution giving cabinet ministers a 10 per cent pay cut effective April 1.
“It’s more symbolic than substantive,” Premier Craig Cannonier said, noting that the overall saving was relatively small. “But in our present economic and fiscal circumstances, it’s the right thing moving forward.”
The Premier’s salary will decrease from US$168,069 to US$151,262 a year, while the Deputy Premier’s pay goes from US$125,491 to US$112,942.
Other ministers in the House of Assembly will drop from US$112,046 to US$100,841. The same pay is set for ministers serving in the Senate.
The cut in ministerial salaries was pledged by Cannonier when he was sworn in as Premier following the victory of the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) in the December general election .
The House also recently authorised raising the national debt ceiling from US$1.45 billion to US$2.5 billion before the country’s coffers ran dry.
The OBA, founded in May 2011, inherited a national debt of US$ 1.4 billion from the previous administration of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) .
Unemployment among Bermudians now stands at 10 per cent.
