Tonga’s Cabinet has approved a 5 per cent increase as Cost of Living Adjustment in the annual salary of Cabinet Ministers.
The increase approved on 4 August is effective from 1 July, 2017.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office says this is the first salary adjustment applied for the Ministers since their admission to their respective positions.
In 2015, His Majesty’s Cabinet resolved that it was only the Civil Servants that would be awarded with a 5% COLA.
The Ministers’ similar entitlements were put on hold for now two years.
The statement says the decision to pay out the 5% COLA for the Cabinet Minister’s excludes their entitlements to a back pay for the last two years.
The decision to award the Cabinet Ministers with 5% COLA was prompted by the increase in the income tax imposed on the Hon Cabinet Minister’s annual salary by 24%, commencing 1st July 2017.
In 2005, the Civil Servants were awarded a range of salary adjustment by 60, 70 and 80 percent increases in their income.
This was followed by another 10% Cost of Living Allowance in 2009 and again with a 6% increase in 2014.
The last salary adjustment of the Civil Servants was a 5% Cost of Living Allowance in 2015.
Photo file. Caption: Prime Minister's Office in Nuku'alofa, Tonga