Moves by Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo to raise bonuses to top managers while planning to slash thousands of jobs in its Swedish home-base have been blasted by, among others, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who said he was upset with the moves during a recession. "This is provocative considering that the company has problems," Reinfeldt said in an interview with Swedish television news programme Agenda.

The premier was reacting to a recent proposal from a board- appointed committee in the Volvo Group - which does not include Volvo Cars, the Swedish subsidiary of US automotive giant Ford - to raise the bonus for 250 managers, stating the company risked losing competent staff. Chief Executive Leif Johansson was not included in the bonus plan, but, like other top managers would be offered more shares, the committee said. The proposal was to be debated at the upcoming annual general meeting on April 1, but there was no immediate sense of whether shareholders were initially upset at the proposal.

The premier said the government had now been given "an additional argument for rejecting the loan," adding that "apparently the company has resources." Christer Gardell, the third-largest shareholder in Volvo with five percent of the votes, said he was also angered by the proposal and would oppose it at the annual general meeting. Union representatives on the Volvo Group board have also criticised the proposal, which came at a time when officials in other businesses, such as banks, have been under attack for trying to take bonuses when they were also laying off thousands of workers or trying to cut the salaries of staff, especially as some of the companies are getting government bail-outs.