President of the Republic Daniel Noboa, He pointed out that subsidies for domestic gas and diesel will be maintained, but the others will be phased out little by little.

In an interview with the Ecuavisa channel on the morning of January 30, he pointed out that this issue is being analyzed.

“The subsidy for gas is not touched, the subsidy for diesel is not touched. The only way to make the removal of subsidies sustainable over time without passing on all the additional costs to the consumer is through greater efficiency. And what do I mean by greater efficiency? To make the power grid work better, a national refining system where we can refine diesel and spray oilwhich is not being done now,” said Noboa.

The president explained that “subsidies will be withdrawn to industries, large companies, also eco-countries and extra, we must work segmented, but at the same time with improving the efficiency of the energy system”.

Regarding the improvement of the national refinery, Noboa said that they are already talking to international investors who are interested in investing money in the refineries, but in processing products that can be consumed in Ecuador because “it seems absurd, but we are refining products that do not even comply with our environmental requirements measure… in this way we will reduce the import of crude oil that is given for commissions.”

He also said that subsidies cannot be abolished at once, but that it will be done as the efficiency in these sectors increases.

In this sense, he revealed that there are already talks to process Ecuadorian oil in international refineries and thus lower the price of fuel.

Noboa indicated that this plan will start in the second half of the year.

Subsidies on imported fuels and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) amount to about $2.5 billion a year, according to reports from the Central Bank of Ecuador.