ECUADOR

On March 1, the Legislative Administration Council (CAL) decided not to qualify, for a second time, the reform bill to the Organic Monetary and Financial Code for the Defense of Dollarization. According to the technical committee of the National Assembly, the bill has 14 inconstitutionalities. For his part, the Minister of Finance, Mauricio Pozo, announced that the bill will be sent to the Assembly “as many times as necessary”. In this line, the public official indicated that they are still defining the date to present the initiative again.

The bill submitted by the Executive proposed to strengthen the independence of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE). It also proposed to improve the supervision of the financial system. However, according to the Legislative Technical Unit, the initiative complies with the provisions of the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Legislative Function, but fourteen inconsistencies were detected.

Pozo also expressed his discomfort with the CAL’s decision to return the bill to the Executive. The Minister stated that “the aim of a bill is, precisely, that the Legislature complies with its duty to review it, debate it, improve it or modify it if necessary, but not to reject it from the outset”.