Santo Domingo.- Industry and Commerce minister Jose Ramon Fadul revealed Wednesday that there’s not enough space to fit all of the 22 deputy ministers in his department, just two days after president Leonel Fernandez admitted an excess of government positions in his Adminsitration.

The official said he favors designating the number of ministers that the Government needs, noting that the problem is not the amount, rather the work they’re assigned.

He said he’s against the designation of the “botellas,” (bottles), in reference to the designations of cronies who only serve to get checks often higher than RD$100,000 per month. “The problem is that they shouldn’t be bottles, they should work because I don’t agree with paying someone who doesn’t work.”

Fadul’s department encompasses nine agencies such as Proindustria, Free Zones, Proconsumidor, Mining, Norms and Quality Systems (DIGENOR) and the Energy Commission.

Interviewed in the National Palace, Fadul added that the Government’s function is to create jobs, not reduce them, and pay good and worthy wages and Social Security benefits, to end the shakedowns.