*Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has defended his efforts to make the public sector more efficient by merging ministries and laying off 5,000 government employees, as his administration braces for protests on 31 July. In an interview with local radio station Radio Sucre, Noboa justified the 24 July announcement that the number of ministries would be reduced from 20 to 14, and the number of secretariats from nine to three, saying that Ecuador had previously had the fourth-highest number of ministries in Latin America after Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil. Now, he said, Ecuador is in the middle of the regional rankings, “which means that government is becoming more efficient” by consolidating its activities. Organisations that have confirmed their participation in the 31 July protests include the umbrella workers’ union Frente Unitario de Trabajadores (FUT), the public sector union Confederación Nacional de Servidores Públicos del Ecuador (Conasep), and the teachers’ union Unión Nacional de Educadores (UNE).
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