Ecuadorian gov't announces strategy to create jobs

QUITO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ecuadorian government will invest some 200 million U.S. dollars to create more jobs and reduce unemployment, which has reached 8.6 percent of the active population, authorities said on Thursday.

National Planning Minister Rene Ramirez said on Thursday that the government will give priority to labor-intensive areas like construction to effectively reduce jobless rates.

"We are going to support the companies that generate better quantity of employments, to reduce the unemployment rate, which affects more than 390,000 Ecuadorians," Ramirez said.

The government will also seek external funding to create jobs as the country's economy was affected by the decline in crude prices, said the minister.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has recently announced an anti-crisis national strategy to guarantee the existing jobs and create some 80,000 more.

The government seeks to create jobs mainly in tourism and agriculture sectors, according to the national plan.

Unemployment in Latin America has been rising amid the worst economic recession since the 1930s. Colombia has a rate of more than 12 percent and in Peru the rate is 9.3 percent.