Bolivia's new president has cut top officials' salaries by half and says the savings will be used for education and health programs.
Evo Morales fulfilled his campaign promise to cut salaries after a cabinet meeting late Thursday.
He announced a 57 percent pay cut for himself, to about $1,800 (U.S.) a month. He reduced his ministers' salaries by half and decreed that no public official can make more than the president.
During his campaign, Mr. Morales promised a more austere budget for Bolivia, South America's poorest country.
The coca farmer and workers' rights activist was elected by a landslide in December. He is Bolivia's first ethnically indigenous president.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Bloomberg.