Quito . The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved a loan of about 364 million dollars to Ecuador under a tool for rapid financing granted by the agency to cover problems of balance of payments.
Ecuador requested line credit to alleviate the consequences of the devastating earthquake that struck the country in April and left more than 660 dead, thousands homeless and significant losses in infrastructure, exports and formal and informal jobs.
“the financial support will help the country to meet an urgent need for balance of payments caused by the earthquake of April 16, “he said in a conference call from Washington the head of the IMF mission to Ecuador, Luca Ricci.
” the impact will to affect the country’s export capacity, the need to import most construction materials, and is also affecting access to special funding. The sum of these effects makes the country needs to support the balance of payment, “said Ricci.
The amount of credit approved by the IMF corresponds to 37.5 percent of the current share of Ecuador to the body and is the maximum amount that could access the country. the loan will have a variable interest rate of 1.1 percent per annum and a term of up to 5 years with a grace period of 39 months.
Ricci said that with the instrument rapid financing Ecuador has no need of an economic program itself or examinations of the economy, but local authorities have committed “to reprogram priorities for capital expenditures and suspend low priority projects not related to reconstruction “if necessary.
the Government have said that reconstruction will require about 3,340 million dollars, of which 67 percent will be financed by the State contingency lines the IMF credit and a law that temporarily raises taxes.
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