The Government of Ecuador announced on Thursday night the merger of seven ministries and one secretariat as part of an “institutional optimization process,” after President Daniel Noboa announced on Wednesday that he would reduce the number of state portfolios from 14 to 10.
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Through a national broadcast, the new Secretary of Public Administration of Ecuador, José Julio Neira, made official the administrative reorganization which, he explained, seeks to simplify the functioning of the Executive.
As reported by Neira, the Ministries of Economy and Finance; of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries; and of Production will become the Ministry of Economic and Productive Development, which will be headed by Sariha Moya.
On the other hand, the portfolios of Infrastructure and Transport and of Telecommunications and Information Society will be integrated into the Ministry of Infrastructure and Technology. Its head will be Roberto Luque.
Similarly, the Ministries of Labor, Human Development and the Secretariat of Management, and Development of Peoples and Nationalities, are united within the portfolio of Labor and Human Development.
This last office will be led by Cynthia Gellibert, who left the position of Secretary of Public Administration that she held since August 2024 and which Neira now holds.
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The current secretary also explained that the restructuring seeks to simplify the functioning of the State through four axes: reduction of procedures, professionalization of public service, efficiency of spending, and digital transformation.
“We are going to simplify procedures, work on interoperability between institutions, and concentrate resources where they generate the greatest impact for citizens,” he noted during a national broadcast.
He also maintained that the measure is part of an “institutional optimization process that will allow us to go from 14 to 10 ministries.”
This is the second reduction of portfolios carried out by Noboa, after his administration reduced the ministries from 20 to 14 and the secretariats from 9 to 3 in July 2025.
