The Governor's super salary

Governors of Central Banks are generally well paid worldwide. They perform an important function: direct monetary policy, one of the two basic instruments of economic policy. 

But again the differences between Governors’ salaries vary strongly from one country to another. A graph based on the central bank's official records of the respective countries and the World Bank data shows how governors are paid in some of the world's most developed countries in relation to per capita income.

Ironically Ben Bernake, Federal Reserve chief in the United States, the most powerful economy in the world, turns out to be one of the most poorly paid.

Mr. Bernake has an annual salary of 3.8 times higher than the average per capita income of the United States. At the top of the list, is Mervin King, Governor of the Bank of England, who is paid 12.4 times more than the average income of a British citizen. In second place is Ardian Fullani. Governor of the Bank of Albania turns out to be one of the most paid. Incomes he receives from his annual salary and royalties at the Supervisory Council are about 100 thousand dollars, or 11.7 times higher than the average income of a citizen.

With this salary, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, in relative terms is paid three times more than the world's most important governor, the American Ben Bernake, whose responsibilities are much bigger, as he is responsible, aside from price stability, also for employment and economic prosperity.

Generally most of the governors are paid from 3.5 to 7 times more than the average income per capita of their country. These include, the governor of France, Australia, Sweden and even the governor of Ireland. The latter, over the past two years has voluntarily reduced his salary several times, as a sign of solidarity to the crisis and the difficulties of public finance, a foreign act so far to Albanian officials.

Determination of salaries at the Bank of Albania operates as a closed circuit, as it is the Bank's Supervisory Council that sets them. In Albania, the governor's salary is not limited even in the national wage hierarchy. This makes the current governor paid several times more than, not only the Albanian president, but Barack Obama, the most powerful man in the world.

Mr. Obama has an average annual salary of 300 thousand dollars, that compared to the average income per capita is 6.3 times higher, from 11.7 which is that of Fullani.