Uruguay's new president may be one of the world's poorest sitting leaders: Jose Mujica formally declared that his entire wealth amounts to a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.

The 23-year-old car is valued at about USD 1,900. Since the former leftist guerrilla leader has no bank accounts or other assets and put his small flower farm in his wife's name, the car is all he owns, according to his sworn declaration, which appeared in Thursday's official bulletin.

Mujica's only reported income is his presidential salary, about USD 11,000 a month. He gives 20 per cent of this to his political movement.

At 75, Mujica is used to an austere lifestyle. Not so his vice president, Danilo Astori, whose declared wealth of USD 250,000 includes a house and car worth nearly 10 times Mujica's Beetle.

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