Finland to slash salaries of ministers

The salaries of the members of the Finnish government will be slashed by 5 percent in the current parliamentary term, the Prime Minister's Office said on Monday.

The Finnish government published the budge proposal for 2016 on Monday. The budget totals 54.1 billion euros (about $60.6 billion), including austerity measures to reduce central government spending, reported Xinhua.

Aiming to save 2 million euros each year, the Prime Minister's Office will continue with the austerity measures taken by the previous cabinet to cut the ministerial salaries by 5 percent in the current parliamentary term (2015-2019).

In addition, all of the cabinet members will do zero-salary work for one week annually.

The austerity measures will also be imposed on Secretaries of State and special assistants, in addition to the cabinet ministers, said the office.

Currently, the ministers of Finland receive 9,788 euros per month and the prime minister 11,742 euros per month. Ministerial salary is subject to tax.

As part of measures for public spending cut, the current Finnish government led by Prime Minister Juha Sipila reduced the number of ministers from 19 to 14, and secretaries from nine to four, when the government assumed office earlier in May.