Japan Enacts Bill to Raise Annual Pay of PM, Ministers

   Tokyo, Nov. 17 (Jiji Press)--Japan's parliament Friday passed into law a bill to raise the annual salaries of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, members of his cabinet and other national civil servants in special categories.
   The House of Councillors, the parliament's upper chamber, approved the bill following the passage through the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, on Tuesday.
   The prime minister's annual salary will be raised by 460,000 yen to 40.61 million yen, and the salaries of other cabinet ministers will be increased by 320,000 yen to 29.61 million yen.
   In response to criticism from opposition parties over the pay raises, Kishida and politically appointed senior government officials will voluntarily return the increased amount to the state coffers.
   The parliament also enacted a bill to raise the monthly salaries of other national civil servants by 0.96 pct on average and their annual bonuses by 0.1 month's pay to 4.5 months.

(2023/11/17-10:57)

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