Ecuador will sign new loan with china to help finance 2016 budget

Jan 18, 2016 Ecuador’s Finance Minister Fausto Herrera recently revealed that his country will sign an agreement with China for some three billion dollars to finance its budget for 2016.

Speaking to this effect, Herrera said:

“We are going to sign with China. This month, we are signing for some three billion dollars. The rest are debts that were already signed for in previous years…Obviously the previous year there were delays in disbursements and what we are doing is making up for lost time we had on the Chinese disbursements and we are working to close it in this quarter,”

Ecuador, which is the smallest member of OPEC, relies on crude for about a quarter of its revenue.

However, the loans from the Asian giant are tied to projects with Chinese companies, such as the recently launched Mirador mining project.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said the 2016 budget was drawn up excluding oil revenues because of the drastic fall in oil prices.

“We have made this 2016 budget with zero oil income. We have the estimation of the lowest barrel of oil on the continent: $35 per barrel,”