Guayaquil, Ecuador (EFE).- Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has formalized a new round of government downsizing, issuing three decrees to merge eight ministries and secretariats.
This measure, announced earlier in June, mirrors a similar consolidation carried out nearly a year ago.
In the decrees released on Friday, the president ordered the merger of the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, and Investments; the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries; and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. These will now be consolidated into a single entity: the Ministry of Economic and Productive Development.
Additionally, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Telecommunications and the Information Society will combine to form the Ministry of Infrastructure and Technology.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Human Development, and the Secretariat of Management and Development of Peoples and Nationalities will integrate into a new Ministry of Labor and Human Development.
With these changes, President Noboa has reduced the number of ministries from 14 to 10. This is part of an «institutional optimization process» announced on June 3.
According to the decrees, the government entities have a maximum of 60 days to complete the merger process.
When the measure was initially announced, the Presidency confirmed that the current Minister of Economy and Finance, Sariha Moya, will lead the new Ministry of Economic and Productive Development. The current Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Roberto Luque, will lead the Ministry of Infrastructure and Technology.
The Ministry of Labor and Human Development will be directed by Cynthia Gellibert, the former Secretary of Public Administration and the Presidential Cabinet.
This marks the second time in less than a year that the president has merged government portfolios. Last July, he reduced the number of ministries from 20 to 14 and cut the number of secretariats from 9 to 3.
These moves are part of a series of unpopular economic reforms aimed at reducing the fiscal deficit under a 5 billion dollars, four-year credit program (2024-2028) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Other recent measures include increasing the value-added tax (VAT) by three percentage points (from 12% to 15%) and eliminating diesel subsidies. EFE
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