QUITO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Ecuador aims to cut its fiscal deficit in half to around $2.4 billion in 2022 through austerity measures such as layoffs of state workers, President Guillermo Lasso said on Wednesday, as the cash-strapped Andean nation emerges from a recession. The economy ministry expects a fiscal deficit of $4.8 billion, or around 4.6% of Ecuador’s gross domestic product (GDP), in 2021. The country’s dollarized economy was battered in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic and a drop in crude prices, its main export. “In the 2022 budget we will reduce spending by at least half of that deficit, approximately $2.3 or $2.4 billion,” Lasso, a conservative ex-banker who took office in May, said in a Wednesday night interview with local television channel Ecuavisa. Lasso’s predecessor, Loreno Moreno, inked a $6.5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) aimed at closing the country’s deficit and boosting the economy, but had to walk back planned austerity measures like cuts to fuel subsidies after facing massive protests. Lasso said he would evaluate how to better target fuel subsidies, arguing that many people who benefit from them do not need state assistance. He added that he would seek to eliminate taxes on commercial airlines to boost tourism revenue. He did not specify how many state workers would be laid off. “It has to happen in many public institutions because there is work that is useless, unnecessary, that does not generate value,” he said. “We must be prudent and act cautiously, but with a firm hand. The government’s total spending is estimated at $27.9 billion in 2021, while revenues are expected at $23 billion. This year’s deficit is expected to be $911.5 million less than the deficit in 2020, the economy ministry figures show. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia Writing by Luc Cohen Editing by Chris Reese) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.