The Chinese Premier has approved a 62% salary increase - he now earns $1,800 each month
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Top earners Image: Xi Jinping has approved monthly pay of 11,385 yuan ($1,827) for himself and the other six members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the nation's top decision making body.
Mr Xi had previously been taking home a modest 7,020 yuan ($1,127) each month, according to national news agency Xinhua.
The lowest ranking civil servants will also see their pay double to 1,320 yuan ($212) a month, said the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in the first round of pay rises for civil servants since 2006.
Meanwhile, official spending on banquets, hotels and other expenses is sliding. Executive pay at the nation's SOEs will also be cut by around 30% and will no longer be allowed to exceed eight times that of an average worker.
By comparison, US President Barack Obama takes home a healthy $400,000 each year, while across the pond British prime minister David Cameron earns £142,000 ($212,000) each year. Both salaries pale in comparison to the world's highest paid country leader Lee Hsien Long, Prime Minister of Singapore, who has a basic salary of a princely $1.8m per annum.