Daniel Noboa will rule Ecuador for almost a year and a half, replacing Guillermo Lasso. He welcomes a country mired in record-breaking violence and facing enormous economic challenges.
Young businessman Daniel Noboa takes over Ecuador’s presidency on Thursday amid economic challenges, promising to create jobs and combat the spiral of violence attributed to drug trafficking gangs.
Noboa, 35 years old, won the presidency in October with a promise to restore security and create jobs in the South American country, which has faced economic challenges since the coronavirus pandemic forced thousands of people to migrate.
Violence on the streets and in prisonsattributed by outgoing President Guillermo Lasso to criminal groups transporting drugs from Colombia and Peru through Ecuador’s ports, has increased in recent years, achieving unprecedented growth Assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August.
Also read: Yes, Ecuador is badly affected by violence, as the elected president says
Noboa will be president for 17 months, ending Lasso’s term after he called forward presidential and legislative elections to avoid an impeachment vote.
It will be difficult for Noboa to effectively address Ecuador’s major challenges in such a short period of time, analysts said, although he may run for re-election in 2025.
The son of Álvaro Noboa, a powerful banana tycoon who tried unsuccessfully several times to win the presidency of Ecuador, the new president will celebrate his inauguration with a speech to the National Assembly in which he could announce a tax reform or a project to combat insecurity, that hit the country.
“I hope that Daniel Noboa is a committed, honest president, who doesn’t steal, who focuses on the issue of insecurity and the economy,” said José Viteri, 31, an employee of an auto parts importer in Quito. “That he is not just another president like his predecessors, but that he is the beginning of a change for the country.”
After his election, Noboa toured the United States and Europe to seek support from investors and multilateral organizations.
But he warned that he could balance compliance with the country’s external debt – which stands at $47.4 billion – with the needs of the population.
He said he would, among other things, incentivize companies to increase employment, cut construction taxes, create a new intelligence unit, supply tactical weapons to security forces and house the most dangerous criminals on prison ships.
According to a report from the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory, Ecuador could see more than 7,000 violent deaths by the end of 2023 and the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants could rise to over 35.
Noboa has not yet named several cabinet positions. Although he had initially named Sariha Moya as his next economy and finance minister, he said on Wednesday that she would head the national planning secretariat. He has not appointed a new finance minister.
Also read: Who is Daniel Noboa, the elected president of Ecuador?
Incomplete cabinet and agreement in the assembly
Noboa kept a low profile and said almost nothing as he pushed ahead with the formation of his cabinet of ministers. Of the 30 ministries and secretaries of state this country has, the elected president has appointed 13. He has chosen profiles of business people and professionals who lack an obvious political past, who are liberal in nature and connected to their environment.
The president-elect appointed a young woman, Sariha Moya, to the economics and finance portfolio. However, he reversed the appointment because multilateral organizations criticized the appointment, arguing that he did not have the appropriate profile to face negotiations with multilateral organizations.
Last week he agreed to a legislative coalition with the conservative Social Christian Party (PSC) and former President Rafael Correa’s Citizens Revolutionary Movement, which is likely to help spur his reforms.
“Anything you have to do, you have to do quickly,” said Francis Romero of the firm Click Research. “Something that seems almost impossible to be realistic (…) but that will be his biggest challenge.”
Ecuador expects economic growth of 1.5% this year and 0.8% in 2024.
According to official data from the third quarter of 2023, around 323,000 Ecuadorians are unemployed and informal work accounts for more than 50% of the economy.
[Con información de Reuters y AP]