- Title: Petrol prices drop after Ecuador's Moreno scraps fuel subsidy cuts
- Date: 15th October 2019
- Summary: QUITO, ECUADOR (OCTOBER 15, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR PETROL STATION VEHICLE PULLING OUT OF PETROL STATION VEHICLES AT PETROL STATION PETROL PUMP TAXI DRIVER JOSE GRANJA WAITING TO LOAD PETROL TANK (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) TAXI DRIVER, JOSE GRANJA, SAYING: "60% of Ecuadorean people are extremely poor. So, who would be affected by these fuel increases? Of course the people of Ecuador, not important businessmen." GRANJA SEEN ON REVIEW MIRROR (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) TAXI DRIVER, JOSE GRANJA, SAYING: "People have not seen a single penny, but nevertheless (the government) have taken out a million loans. The people don't see these loans. Those are annoyances. You can't see the current government, with so many loans, building roads, hydroelectric, buildings, schools, colleges. Everything is just blah, blah, blah, but in reality there is nothing. So yes, the people of Ecuador are upset." SIGN SEEN OUTSIDE PETROL STATION WITH ADJUSTED COST OF FUEL CARS WAITING TO FILL UP TANKS AT PETROL STATION PETROL PUMP DRIVER FILLING UP TANK (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DRIVER JOSE GRANJA, SAYING: "The middle, lower classes have been affected a lot, because we have our children and we have to pay a lot of things and the wages are not enough." VARIOUS OF PETROL TANK EXTERIOR CARS AT PETROL STATION
- Embargoed: 29th October 2019 15:21
- Keywords: fuel Ecuador Lennin Moreno prices petrol stations
- Location: QUITO, ECUADOR
- City: QUITO, ECUADOR
- Country: Ecuador
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001B17LOW7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: People were seen queuing outside a petrol station in Ecuador's capital Quito on Tuesday (October 15) after President Lenin Moreno officially scrapped his own law to cut expensive fuel subsidies after days of violent protests against the IMF-backed measure, returning fuel prices to prior levels until a new measure can be found.
Ecuadoreans said poor and middle classes would mostly be affected by a rise in fuel prices. Another added they had not seen loan money turned into the building of roads, buildings, schools.
The signing of the decree is a blow to Moreno, and leaves big questions about the oil-producing nation's fiscal situation. But it represents a win for the country's indigenous communities, who led the protests, bringing chaos to the capital and crippling the oil sector.
The clashes marked the latest in a series of political convulsions sparked by IMF-backed reform plans in Latin America, where increased polarization between the right and left is causing widespread friction amid efforts to overhaul hidebound economies.
Moreno's law eliminated four-decade-old fuel subsidies and was estimated to have freed up nearly $1.5 billion per year in the government budget, helping to shrink the fiscal deficit as required under a deal Moreno signed with the International Monetary Fund.
But the measure was hugely unpopular and sparked days of protests led by indigenous groups that turned increasingly violent despite a military-enforced curfew.
(Production: Leonardo Benassatto) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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