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News > Ecuador

Ecuador's Candidate Arauz Rejects Privatization of Central Bank

  • UNES presidential candidate Andres Arauz, Ecuador, 2021.

    UNES presidential candidate Andres Arauz, Ecuador, 2021. | Photo: Twitter/ @monthly_review

Published 9 February 2021
Opinion

The Moreno administration sent a bill that seeks to place the Central Bank under the control of private interest groups.

The Union for Hope (UNES) candidate Andres Arauz rejected the "defense of dollarization" bill by which Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno, who has less than 5 months left in office, seeks to reform the monetary and financial code.

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This young economist called on the members of the current National Assembly not to approve this bill because its purpose is to "privatize" the monetary policy by placing corporate-sponsored people on the board of directors of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE).

"We will not allow the approval of a law that will allow this government to appoint officials who will remain in office longer than the next administration," said the leftist candidate who won the highest vote in the Feb. 7 elections.

He pointed out that Moreno's bill is designed to prevent the next government from changing the rules related to the restructuring of private bank loans.

"If this pro-bankers bill is approved, the next government will not have effective instruments to make positive changes on issues such as credit management," the UNES candidate said.

Besides recalling that a similar bill was rejected by the National Assembly in 2019, Arauz stressed that Moreno's proposal goes against the Constitution.

He also pointed out that the next Assembly will have to correct the damages caused by the reforms to the monetary and financial code in case this bill is approved before May.

In that month, the new lawmakers will take office in a Congress in which almost 75 percent of its members belong to left-wing or center-wing parties. According to the official vote count available as of Tuesday morning, the UNES alliance is the leading parliamentary force with 50 seats.

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