LatinNews Daily - 24 November 2020

* Ceyda Oner, who headed up a recent virtual mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Ecuador, has announced that the IMF team and Ecuadorean authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the first review of Ecuador’s economic programme that is supported by a 27-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF). According to an IMF statement, the agreement is subject to the approval of IMF management and the Executive Board in the coming weeks, “contingent on the implementation by the authorities of prior actions and fulfilment of all relevant Fund policies”. Upon completion of the review, Ecuador would have access to about US$2bn. The mission took place from 28 October-20 November to discuss progress on reforms and the authorities’ policy plans in response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and oil price shocks. In the statement the IMF cites preliminary data pointing “to a less severe contraction in economic activity than anticipated in the second quarter of 2020” and now expects Ecuador's economy to contract by 9.5% in 2020, instead of 11% as previously projected. Yet it highlights that as elsewhere “Ecuador faces significant uncertainty regarding the future path of the pandemic and global oil prices”.

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