欧美文化:Ecuador's president appoints finance minister

QUITO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on Monday appointed Juan Carlos Vega as Minister of Economy and Finance, four days after taking office for a short 18-month administration.

Noboa made the appointment through an executive decree signed on Monday and released by the Presidency.

The new minister is an economist trained in universities in the United States and has a master's degree in applied economics and management, in addition to having worked as a consultant in agribusiness, competitiveness and finance.

Vega assumes the leadership of a state portfolio that will face crucial challenges, such as the economic crisis facing the country, a large fiscal deficit and the need to obtain external financing, since the public debt is 75.23 billion U.S. dollars as of August, equivalent to 62 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

In addition, he will have to lead a tax reform that Noboa will send to the National Assembly aimed at creating incentives for companies and reducing taxes on construction to generate employment, which was a campaign promise.

Noboa will finish the mandate of his predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved the National Assembly in May that gave way to early elections amid a political crisis.