President Mauricio Macri

Argentine President Mauricio Macri has announced government job cuts aimed at reducing the deficit and attacking a patronage system in place for decades.

Ministers will be forbidden from employing close family, and those currently in posts will have to leave.

One in four positions appointed by ministers will also be cut and government employees will not receive pay rises this year.

The government expects to save $77m (£55m) a year with the cuts.

Mr Macri, who has just returned from meeting other world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the government could not be excluded from his austerity drive.

“Change is serious. What we have proposed is much more than economic change, it’s cultural change,” he said.

“We want to change the culture of power in Argentina. We all have to concede something for the benefit of the greater whole.”

Within hours of his announcement, several close relatives of ministers had left their jobs.

(BBC)