By Yury Garcia
QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s Finance Minister Simon Cueva will exit the Andean country’s government amid a cabinet reshuffle following more than two-weeks of protests, the Secretary of Public Administration, Ivan Correa said on Monday.
Ecuador’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Changes to the government of President Guillermo Lasso will be announced tomorrow, Correa said during an interview with local television outlet Teleamazonas, emphasizing Cueva’s planned exit.
“Without a doubt changes are coming, the president is evaluating all these changes and what’s certain is that they will be announced tomorrow, obviously including the Ministry of Finance,” Correa stressed.
Other ministers will also leave the government, Correa said, without specifying which ones.
“There are other changes also within the cabinet that will be announced by the president tomorrow afternoon,” he said.
The announcement follows weeks of protests which erupted in Ecuador in June to demand lower fuel prices and limits to the expansion of the mining and oil industries, leading to at least eight deaths and devastating the country’s oil production.
A pact to end the crisis was signed on Thursday between the government of President Guillermo Lasso and indigenous leaders.
Lasso appointed Cueva with the task of cutting Ecuador’s fiscal deficit, which the government hopes to reduce by $2 billion this year.
(Reporting by Yury Garcia; Writing by Oliver Griffin, Editing by Franklin Paul)
