LatinNews Daily - 02 December 2020

* Ecuador’s economy ministry has reported that the country has received US$4.69bn in credit from multilateral financial organisations so far in 2020, with the total set to reach US$7.11bn by the end of December, making this Ecuador’s main source of financing this year. On top of the substantial disbursements already made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Latin American Development Bank (CAF), and the World Bank, Economy Minister Mauricio Pozo reported that further payments are expected from the IMF (US$2bn), the IDB (US$150m), and the CAF (US$263m). Following this update, the CAF announced that it had approved a further US$462m in credit for Ecuador, which will either further increase the total for 2020, or become the first disbursement paid in 2021. Pozo noted that this emergency credit had been required to bridge the country’s fiscal deficit, as the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic decimated revenues and necessitated substantial emergency spending; however, he highlighted that such loans will not be so readily available in 2021, and suggested that the public spending gap will have to be bridged by other means, including the arrival of credit from other sources, most notably China.

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