President of Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz, said this Monday that he will cut his salary and that of his ministers in half amid a growing political crisis marked by protests and roadblocks demanding his resignation.
At an event in Sucre, the country’s constitutional capital, Paz said the salary cuts demonstrate the government’s ‘commitment to the country’.
The pay cuts come as Bolivia enters its fourth week of political and social unrest. The protests have caused growing supply chain problems in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, where severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine are hitting markets, hospitals and gas stations.
Protesters are putting pressure on Paz’s centrist government to reverse austerity measures and deal with the rising cost of living.
Paz, who took office in November and inherited an economy in turmoil, defended spending cuts and the reduction of fuel subsidies as necessary to stabilize public finances.
