Spanish king lowers his salary by 20 pct

King Felipe VI of Spain has decided to lower his annual salary by 20 percent during 2015, it was reported Wednesday on the official website of the royal household.

Felipe VI will receive 234,204 euros (265,123 U.S. dollars) this year. His father Juan Carlos, who abdicated in June last year, will receive 80 percent of the amount and Felipe's wife Queen Letizia will be paid 128,808 euros.

The entire budget for the Spanish royal family for 2015 will be 7.77 million euros, with 655,764 of that to pay the salaries of members of the royal family.

The amount of money saved by reductions in salaries has been redistributed to other areas such as investments and contingency funds.

Although this is the fourth consecutive year the royal budget has been either reduced or frozen, this is the first time since the return of the monarchy to Spain in late 1975 that a king has fixed the level of his salary and that of his family.

Sources in the royal household explain that Felipe took into account the earnings of representatives of Spanish institutions as well as making comparisons with the money earned by heads of state in other nations.

As well as an economic measure, Felipe VI's decision can be seen as another step in trying to boost the popularity of the Spanish monarchy.

Its image has suffered in recent years due to scandals involving his father, such as a hunting trip to Botswana which saw him break his hip, and the indictment of Princess Cristiano and her husband Inaki Urdangarin in a corruption scandal. Endit