Ecuador’s new government will cut $1 billion in spending to address “brutal inefficiencies” before potentially seeking loans from multilateral organizations, and will raise about $300 million by selling gold reserves, President Daniel Noboa Azín said in an interview with Reuters.

According to Noboa, high international prices make it the right time to sell some of Ecuador’s gold reserves to finance the needs of regional and local governments, during an interview at the presidential palace in Quito.

“It’s not about reducing reserves, it’s about the profit it will create for the Central Bank,” Noboa said. “A small percentage could generate an additional $300 million in revenue to address the level of urgency we have with local authorities.”

About $2.2 billion of the country’s international reserves are in gold, according to a Reuters note.

Additionally, he said restructuring spending will also save about $1 billion next year. He added that his government would cut costs before possibly seeking loans from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“We talked (with the IMF) and one of the things we agree on is the efficiency of public spending and its reduction by at least one billion dollars in 2024,” Noboa said. “We are at a level of brutal inefficiency.”

The savings will come from spending cuts and redistribution of ministerial staff, he said, “which will clearly reduce the deficit and help us access international markets.”

Ecuador completed a $6.5 billion loan program with the IMF late last year, and Noboa said it would balance foreign debt obligations of about $47.4 billion with the needs of Ecuadorians.

A tax proposal that offers amnesties on interest and fines is not a conflict of interest, Noboa said, because those in high public office and their families cannot benefit from them.

The corporation of the new president’s father, banana magnate Álvaro Noboa, owes more than $89 million in unpaid taxes, according to the Tax Administration (SRI).

The proposal also includes incentives for companies that employ young people and a VAT rebate for the construction sector.

Noboa’s security “Plan Fenix,” which includes a new intelligence unit, tactical weapons for security forces, new high-security prisons and increased security at ports and airports — key points for drug shipments — will cost about $800 million, he said.

The United States will provide $200 million in new weapons for the military, Noboa said, with the rest coming from the state budget.

Violent deaths nearly doubled in Ecuador in the year to Nov. 22, according to police data, rising from 3,983 to 6,940.

“We have to do both at the same time,” Noboa said. “Give security to people and attack unemployment.”