Ecuador raises the minimum wage to $450 and makes it one of the highest in Latin America.

The Ecuadorian government announced this Wednesday that the minimum wage will be $450 from 2023. This is after its president William Lassowill sign a decree to increase it by $25 compared to the current $425.

This increase puts the country on par with the highest minimum wage in Latin America, at a level similar to Chile. The decision to increase was made by the government after the National Council of Labor and Wages (CNTS), led by the Ministry of Labor, failed to reach a consensus between representatives of employers and workers.

Increase by order of the government Ecuador this was expected by the workers, who pointed to the $25 pledged by Lasso during the election campaign for a gradual increase $100 minimum wage during his four years in office from $400 to $500.

Instead, employee representatives proposed an increase of $11.70, equivalent to 2.7%. The announcement of the new increase was made by Lasso during a visit by food company workers to Latacunga, the capital of the central Andean province of Cotopaxi.

They refuse to forgive $10,000 in debt to communities.

The Ecuadorian government rejected a few days ago a debt forgiveness of up to $10,000, as demanded by peasant organizations involved in last July’s demonstrations, after the interior ministry indicated it was not practical as Banecuador, the state-owned bank, would ” at risk.”

From the executive, they argue that Banecuador has already applied automatic debt relief up to $3,000 and that there is currently no financial feasibility to increase this facility, as $60 million would have been invested in this measure so far.

Banecuador claims that a new remission would jeopardize the resource management of more than two million clients, as well as 180,000 beneficiaries.

Lasso tax reform canceled

Ecuador’s National Assembly, with an opposition majority, approved the repeal of President Guillermo Lasso’s tax reform, as expected by his economy and finance minister.

With 100 votes out of the 129 assembly members present, the Ecuadorian Legislative Assembly moved to repeal the tax reform just one year after the government decreed the “Basic Law for Economic Development and Financial Sustainability after the Covid-19 Pandemic.” “.19”.

The fiscal supplement was needed to increase the government’s collection of a $6,500 million loan program that Ecuador supports with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that ends at the end of the year.

The tax reform changed the income tax band for individuals and significantly reduced the expense deduction from $14,000 to $5,000.

Assemblyman Noemi Cabrera of the Union of Hope (Unes) parliamentary group, who is close to former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), argued that after a year of the law, benefits for citizens who, on the contrary, suffered from having to pay more taxes.

(According to EFE and Europa Press)