New Positive Steps Forward

ECUADOR - In Brief 26 Apr 2021 by Magdalena Barreiro

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The bill in favor of dollarization was finally approved in first and second debates in the Assembly. Legislators from CREO, Social Christian Party, Alianza Pais and other from independent political blocks were in favor, and --as expected --correistas voted against. With this achievement, we expect the first disbursement planned for this year under the IMF agreement would arrive, but we estimate this will not happen before July. On the bright side, there are some funds in the Treasury accounts that will help until the summer, and also, some recent increase in liquidity from IESS could be used to finance fiscal needs.On another topic, Guillermo Lasso announced his ministries for the Social side of the cabinet. Four women from different backgrounds and three men were appointed. Mae Montaño --a former member from CREO who left the party about three years ago --was appointed Minister of Social and Economic Inclusion. She is a well-respected Afro-American women who has been in politics for over two decades. Dr. Ximena Garzon was appointed Minister of Health. Dr. Garzon has by far the best background with a Ph.D. in public health and ample experience in policy-making in this area. She will be leading one of the most important and also most conflictive ministries and hopefully will choose collaborators with experience in the public sector to complement her excellent academic curriculum. Other cabinet members are Alejandro Ribadeneira for the Higher Education, Science and Technology Secretariat, Maria Elena Machuca for the Ministry of Culture, Bernarda Ordoñez for the Human Rights Secretariat, Sebastian Ponce for the Sports Secretairaty, and Maria Brown for the Ministry of Educ...