"The wages of the Ministers have decreased two or three times… The remuneration of the Deputy Ministers has also decreased."
On 12 December 2014, on air at the Georgian Public Broadcaster, the Minister of Finance of Georgia, Nodar Khaduri, stated: "The wages of the Ministers have decreased two or three times… The remuneration of the Deputy Ministers has also decreased."
FactChecktook interest in these statements and verified their accuracy.
The Law of Georgia on Public Service determines the types of remuneration. The remuneration includes wage, bonus and legal surplus (surplus for position, secret surplus and so on). FactCheck wrote about the issue of surpluses earlier as well (link 1, link 2).We requested information about the wages of the Ministers and Deputy Ministers from various Ministries. We received the requested information from only 11 Ministries, two of which (from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture) were incomplete.
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Protection of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 80,800 | 73,000 | 90,000 | 77,400 |
| First Deputy Minister | 60,300 | 57,300 | 63,800 | 60,800 |
| Deputy Minister | 54,000 | 48,100 | 54,400 | 57,000 |
Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 85,000 | 67,000 | 90,000 | 71,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 74,000 | 73,000 | 74,000 | 73,000 |
| Deputy Minister | 70,000 | 67,000 | 71,000 | 60,000 |
Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 92,000 | 92,000 | 90,000 | 75,000 (11 months) |
| First Deputy Minister | 77,000 | 94,500 |
- |
39,300 (9 months) |
| Deputy Minister | 70,400 | 85,500 | 68,640 | 49,000 (11 months) |
Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 41,500 | 41,500 | 94,000 | 81,250 |
| First Deputy Minister | 52,400 | 48,000 | 44,000 | 57,500 |
| Deputy Minister | 66,500 | 55,000 | 41,000 | 53,000 |
Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 84,500 | 73,900 | 90,165 | 75,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 70,800 | 62,000 | 60,460 | 59,000 |
| Deputy Minister | 65,300 | 57,140 | 61,700 | 65,500 |
Ministry of Energy of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 95,000 | 103,000 | 90,000 | 75,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 108,000 | 115,000 | - | - |
| Deputy Minister | 82,000 | 107,000 | 97,900 | 102,700 |
Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 121,400 | 102,800 | 92,000 | 75,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 81,250 | 76,000 | 70,300 | 42,700 |
| Deputy Minister | 75,650 | 72,700 | 69,300 | 74,650 |
Ministry of Defence of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 59,700 | 54,000 | 125,500 | 105,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 113,400 | 107,200 | 87,318 | 94,000 |
| Deputy Minister | 96,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 |
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 90,000 | 88,500 | 85,830 | 85,000 |
| First Deputy Minister | 85,500 | 78,650 | 75,225 | 79,650 |
| Deputy Minister | 68,300 | 80,000 | 73,000 | 68,000 |
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 54,200 | 85,800 | 86,300 | 72,500 |
Ministry of Finance of Georgia
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
2014 |
|
| Minister | 112,000 | 99,400 | 90,000 | 75,000 |
Conclusion
The statistics provided by ten different Ministries make clear that in seven out of ten cases, the wages of the Ministers and Deputy Ministers decreased slightly in 2013 and 2014 as compared to 2011 and 2012. In none of the aforementioned Ministries did the wages of the Ministers and Deputy Ministers decrease two or three times. In addition, the wages of the Minister of Education and Science of Georgia and the Minister of Defence of Georgia have almost been doubled. The wage of the Minister of Agriculture of Georgia has also increased.
Hence, Nodar Khaduri’s statement: "The wages of the Ministers have decreased two or three times… The remuneration of the Deputy Ministers has also decreased," is FALSE.
