Incoming Ecuador President Moreno names finance, oil ministers

May 23, 2017 11:33 AM EDT

FILE PHOTO: Ecuador's President-elect Lenin Moreno attends a meeting with Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski at the government palace in Lima, Peru, May 9, 2017. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist president-elect Lenin Moreno on Tuesday said he would name economics professor Carlos de la Torre as finance minister and former international oil executive Carlos Perez as oil minister.

Moreno, 64, also appointed ex-officials from outgoing President Rafael Correa's government. He formally begins his presidency on Wednesday.

De la Torre is an economics professor and works as a consultant. Perez was for 13 years Ecuador country manager for U.S. oil services company Halliburton.

"(It is a) cabinet that reflects this new stage in the history of the country and our political process: plurality, unity and dialogue," Moreno said on Twitter.

De la Torre must solve the country's large fiscal deficit. He will be accompanied by Veronica Artola Jarrin, who will head the central bank.

Moreno's main challenge will be to solve the OPEC nation's liquidity problem. It has been hit hard by falling oil prices and a devastating earthquake.

Moreno expects to meet the 1.4 percent growth forecast set by his predecessor for this year.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Ecuador; Editing by Bernard Orr)



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