Bolivia’s controversial president says he will cut wages by 50 percent | Business and Financial Issues

Paz says the cut in his salary by the cabinet ministers shows the government’s ‘commitment’ to the country.

Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz has said he will cut his and his cabinet’s salaries in half amid a growing political crisis amid protests and roadblocks calling for his resignation.

Speaking at a ceremony in Sucre, the country’s legislative capital, on Monday, Paz said the reduction in wages showed the government’s “commitment” to the country.

The cuts come as Bolivia enters its fourth week of political and social unrest. Demonstrations have caused economic problems in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, where severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine are hitting markets, hospitals and petrol stations.

Protesters are pressuring the Paz government to reverse austerity measures and tackle rising prices, with demands ranging from raising wages and reinstating oil prices to the level of 2006. The protests come amid concerns that the president is aligned with big business and the elite, and favors them – especially since he has not elected citizens or workers to his cabinet, unlike in the past.

Paz, who took office in November and took charge of the embattled economy, has defended spending cuts and fuel cuts as necessary to stabilize the state’s finances.