LatinNews Daily - 22 August 2018

Ecuador: Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno has announced various economic measures aimed at reducing the country’s total debt which he put at US$60bn. These include plans to increase the price of a gallon of ‘super’ gasoline (with a 92 octane rating) by US$0.50 to US$2.98 although Moreno said that the prices of other types of gasoline would not be revised. Other cost-cutting measures include plans to halve the number of ministries from 40 to 20 by getting rid of the justice ministry, national communications secretariat, and national space institute, and merging other ministries such as foreign trade with industry. This, Moreno said, would save US$60m. At the same time as announcing these measures, President Moreno also announced that his government would authorise loans of US$800m for the housing sector, US$200m for agriculture, and US$235m for the small and medium-sized business (SME) sector to reactivate the domestic economy.

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