The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, announced this Wednesday a new adjustment in the structure of his Government: the Council of Ministers will be reduced from 14 to ten portfolios, with the stated intention of cutting state spending. This is the second time, in just over two years of his second term, that he has eliminated ministries.
"That efficiency plan is so that there can be greater benefits for citizens. We are reducing the number of ministries to ten. We are going to give greater responsibility to the heads of those ministries and at the same time we are going to optimize and improve quality so that the citizen feels it, so that the citizen has greater benefits," he stated in an interview with the Ecuadorian station Radio Marejada.
When questioned about a possible "purge" of personnel within the Executive, Noboa admitted that "there has to be a change," although he denied that it was "necessarily" a "pure purge" or "layoffs." He immediately clarified that those who are "doing things wrong" will be dismissed to be replaced by those who "have the desire to work and not the desire to bother."
The president has not yet offered additional information on how the new cabinet will be configured or which ministries will disappear or merge. Noboa began his first administration in November 2023 with a total of 20 ministries and, after being re-elected months later for a second term, last July he reduced that number to 14.
Then, as now, the restructuring was framed within a plan to make public administration more efficient, simplify the state structure, and speed up procedures in the public sector. That decision generated rejection from various social groups and public employees, as it resulted in the dismissal of 5,000 workers from the Ecuadorian administration, according to the newspaper "Primicias".