According to the British newspaper’s calculations, the newly seventy-year-old head of the European monetary authority earned approximately 726,000 euros, or over 17.5 million crowns, in 2024. This is 56 percent more than the “basic” salary of 466,000 euros published by the ECB in its annual report.
It means that Lagarde earns roughly four times more than the chairman of the US Federal Reserve System, i.e. the head of the US central bank, Jay Powell. “His salary is set by US federal law and is currently limited to $203,000, i.e. CZK 4.2 million,” pointed out The Financial Times.
Even the governor of the Czech National Bank, Aleš Michl, takes more than Powell, who according to the organization last year Guardian of the State received an average of almost 750 thousand crowns per month, i.e. over 8.9 million crowns per year.
As the British daily noted, while Lagarde’s full salary is low compared to CEOs of major EU companies, its analysis reveals how limited salary disclosure is at the ECB.
Fabio De Masi, an MEP and chairman of Germany’s populist left-wing BSW party, said it was “scandalous” that Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing, for example, provides more detailed information about his salary to the public than Lagarde.
Her term ends next year
She has been the president of the European Central Bank since November 2019. After becoming head of the ECB, she identified the maintenance of price stability, the two percent inflation limit and the fight against climate change as her main goals.
She was against the provision of guarantees by the ECB for payment to Ukraine. The recent EU summit in Brussels finally agreed that the European Union will provide Ukraine with a loan of 90 billion euros, roughly 2.2 trillion CZK. However, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia will not join the guarantees.
The ECB is now preparing for a two-year reorganization that will see up to two-thirds of its top management replaced, including Lagarde, whose eight-year term ends in 2027.
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