Quick Facts
Biography
Mathias Roman Salas is a Bougainvillean politician and former Cabinet minister. Salas is a former banker.
In the 2005 Bougainvillean general election Salas was elected to the first Bougainville parliament as a member of the Bougainville People's Congress. On 23 June 2005 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Minerals, Gas and Petroleum Exploration in the cabinet of President Joseph Kabui. In 2008 he served as acting vice-President. He subsequently lost his seat in the 2010 election.
Salas was re-elected to parliament in the 2020 Bougainvillean general election. On 2 October 2020 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury in the cabinet of Ishmael Toroama. Salas delivered three annual budgets for the Autonomous Bougainville Government, focusing on regional development. In 2022, Salas questioned the National Government of Papua New Guinea over a discrepancy between the amount of money budgeted for Bougainville and the amount that had been appropriated. In September 2023, Salas was removed from this post in a Cabinet reshuffle, and replaced by Robin Wilson, the member from Terra constituency.