Revisiting Presidential data – Zuma is hugely overpaid by every possible measure

Friday’s newsletter comparing Presidential value-for-money evoked considerable reaction. Using data of the world’s best paid leaders’ published by global TV news network CNN, we compared Presidential wages with the size of the economies they run.

The now widely distributed table showed South Africa’s Jacob Zuma was hugely overpaid.

Zuma’s supporters railed, saying the comparison was unfair, that the size of the economy is not the right measure. I disagree, but in the interests of fairness, drew a comparison with a different set of data – average earnings of the citizens in the countries which each President rules, what economists call GDP per capita.

The result: Once again, the ANC leader is a massive outlier, receiving 34.5 times what the average South African is paid.

The only leader who comes close is India’s Narendras Modi who is paid almost 20 times his impoverished nation’s average.

For all the BRICS talk of addressing income inequality, the only other Presidents to earn more than 10 times that of their citizens hail from Russia and Brazil. As our table shows, only one of the BRICS, China, is leading by example.

* For more in-depth business news, visit biznews.com or simply sign up for the daily newsletter.