U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday asked corporate executives to link their pay to companies' performance.

In a speech in New York on the U.S. economy, Bush said "The salaries and bonuses of CEOs should be based on their success at improving their companies and bringing value to their shareholders. "

CEOs' huge salaries have drawn attention from investors and senators recently partly because of enormous compensation packages paid recently to outgoing executives such as Home Depot's Robert Nardelli and Pfizer's Hank McKinnell.

Bob Nardelli was earning an average of 25.7 million dollars a year while he left the company with a severance package worth about 210 million dollars.

The Senate is ready to pass a bill in a few days to curb the amount of money executives can defer in order to avoid taxes.

However, since tax legislation by law must originate in the House, the Senate bill, even if it passes in its present form, cannot simply be approved by the lower chamber and signed by the President.

"Government should not decide the compensation for America's corporate executives," said Bush.

"America's corporate boardrooms must step up to their responsibilities," he added. "You need to pay attention to the executive compensation packages that you approve. You need to show the world that America's businesses are a model of transparency and good corporate governance."

Source: Xinhua