Ecuador’s International Reserves hit an all-time high of $ 7.377 million on December 23, the Central Bank of the Andes Country reported this Monday.
This is the highest level achieved in the last twenty years, since dollarization began in the country, helping to guarantee the deposits of citizens, public and private agents, as well as the resources for the management and execution of works at the various levels of government, he said.
Is noted By December 22, international reserves had reached a level of $ 5.347 million, before the country received its second $ 2.03 billion disbursement, under the expanded service agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
For example, the international financial community “shows its support for the actions taken by the Ecuadorian government to maintain orderly management of public finances,” he said in a statement.
He added that these resources “inspire confidence in the economy and contribute to the strengthening of dollarization, reactivating production machinery and expanding the coverage of social assistance programs.”
IMF PAYMENT
On December 23, the second $ 2 billion disbursement approved by the IMF arrived in Ecuador.
The delivery of these funds took place following the approval of the IMF Board of Directors of the first review of the targets programmed with the South American country, “both quantitative and indicative, from the quarter of July to September 2020,” where full compliance with the same, ”said a statement from Finance.
Economy and Finance Minister Mauricio Pozo noted that “the destination of international disbursements (…) is to cover expenditure related to health, education and social protection.”
And he added that the funds received will also serve “to reduce the backlogs the tax box has with suppliers, decentralized autonomous governments and other entities related to the general state budget.”
The ability to make late payments to suppliers and local authorities will allow “to inject liquidity into the economy and contribute to its reactivation”.
To achieve the goals, Ecuador has had to make changes to anti-corruption laws, including the anti-corruption law passed by the National Assembly (parliament) this month.
In this area, the Ecuadorian government is also working with the State Comptroller General’s Office to improve the publication and availability of detailed information on the asset declarations of senior government officials.
The loan agreement payment is agreed for a term of 10 years, with a grace period of four years and an interest rate of 2.9 percent.
With this departure, Ecuador has received about $ 7,000 million from multilateral organizations this pandemic year, although some $ 260 million from the Development Bank of Latin America-CAF remains to be reached by the end of the year.
The purpose of all these loans is to close the fiscal hole created by the large debt inherited from previous governments and the devastating effects of the pandemic.
This month alone, the country also received 514 million from the World Bank, 261 million from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and 138 million from CAF.
On September 30, the IMF board approved an agreement under the IMF’s Expanded Service (EFF) to grant the country exceptional access to $ 6.5 billion.
Of them, 4,000 million will receive in 2020, 1,500 million in 2021 and 1,000 million in 2022.