LatinNews Daily - 29 January 2026

*The president of Ecuador’s national assembly, Niels Olsen, has announced that President Daniel Noboa’s government has submitted two bills regarding local government spending and the energy and mining sectors. In a social media post, Olsen, of the ruling centre-right Acción Democrática Nacional (ADN), said that “the first [bill] seeks to put the spending of local governments in order and make it more efficient, so that more resources go to public works and services for the people”. He said that “the second one aims to strengthen the strategic sectors of energy and mining, which is key to attracting investment, generating employment, sustaining the economy, and combatting illegal mining”. The bills have not yet been published on the national assembly website. According to the Ecuadorean news outlet Primicias, the spending bill would require decentralised autonomous governments to spend 70% of their budgets on infrastructure investment and maintenance by 2029, while rural parishes would be required to meet this target by 2030. This investment allocation would be increased progressively, starting from 60% in 2027 for decentralised autonomous governments and 50% for rural parishes. The energy and mining bill would reportedly allow for increased private sector involvement in electricity production and supply, including for the provision of street lighting. Both bills were categorised as being of ‘economic urgency’, meaning that legislators must vote on them within 30 days.

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