Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir strongly denied allegations that she had promised Central Bank chairman Már Guðmundsson any sort of pay raise.
A measure had been proposed in the parliamentary banking committee to raise the salary of the chairman to 400,000 ISK per month. After strong public reaction, both within and outside of parliament, the proposal was dropped.
Már, for his part, said that he would have never accepted a pay raise, least of all in times when budget cuts are being made in numerous public sectors.
Lára V. Júlíusdóttir, chairman of the banking committee, justified the proposal’s submission by telling the media that she was just following through on a promise made to the chairman when he was hired. Anonymous sources have said that this promise came from the Prime Minister’s office.
However, when confronted with this information in parliament, Jóhanna vehemently denied ever promising Már a pay raise, adding that the proposal to raise his pay is going to be withdrawn now anyway.