Mathias Roman Salas is a Bougainvillean politician and former Cabinet minister. Salas is a former banker.[1]
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.[2] In 2008 he served as acting vice-President.[3] He subsequently lost his seat in the 2010 election.
Salas was re-elected to parliament in the 2020 Bougainvillean general election.[4] On 2 October 2020 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury in the cabinet of Ishmael Toroama.[5] 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.[6] In September 2023, Salas was removed from this post in a Cabinet reshuffle, and replaced by Robin Wilson, the member from Terra constituency.[7]
