The United States said on Thursday that it will remove tariffs on some foods and other imports from Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala and El Salvador under framework agreements that will give U.S. firms greater access to those markets, Reuters reported. The agreements are expected to help lower prices for coffee, bananas and other foodstuffs, a senior Trump administration official told reporters, adding the administration expected U.S. retailers to pass on the positive effects to American consumers.
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Ecuador has completed its second debt-for-nature swap, this time unlocking $460 million to protect and manage the forests and wetlands of its Amazon rainforest, NGO The Nature Conservancy said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. By buying-back over $1.5 billion of its discounted existing bonds with cheaper new money, Ecuador will realise almost half a billion dollars of savings over a 17-year period to invest in conserving the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of the Amazon.
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are laying the groundwork for a swap that will help Ecuador manage its debt financing costs in exchange for a pledge to protect part of the Amazon rainforest, Bloomberg News reported. The two investment banks are preparing a deal ahead of formally engaging with potential investors for the transaction, said the people who asked not to be identified discussing private talks. The Nature Conservancy, a non-governmental organization, will be an adviser on the deal.
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In the fertile lands of Tungurahua and Cotopaxi, the livelihoods of 17,000 farmers hang in the balance due to a devastating drought that has left irrigation canals critical to their crops without water, hortidaily.com reported. A catastrophic landslide has destroyed the water collection system in the Latacunga-Salcedo-Ambato irrigation canal, plunging farmers into a desperate fight for survival. The irrigation canal had been dry for 19 days when a landslide destroyed a section of the catchment system in Salcedo on March 5, 2024.
Ecuador is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a credit line of as much as $1 billion after the nation was hit by an earthquake, flooding and a landslide in recent weeks, Bloomberg News reported. The government has its financing needs covered for the year, but is seeking additional support to fund disaster relief after the series of natural calamities, Finance Minister Pablo Arosemena said Wednesday, in an interview in Washington D.C. “We don’t need the money right this second,” Arosemena said.
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Ecuador has fully financed its budget for next year and is not looking for a new credit agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country's economy minister said on Friday, adding that the government will maintain close ties with the fund, Reuters reported. The IMF this week concluded the latest review of its $6.5 billion financing agreement with Ecuador, opening the way for a final disbursement of $700 million to the South American nation.
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Ecuador plans to pay off a debt it owes to French oil company Perenco at the end of this year and is open to a dialogue to determine how the payment should be made, the country's economy minister said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Ecuador is obliged to pay compensation to Perenco after the World Bank's International Centre for Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled the country had unlawfully ended a production-sharing agreement with Perenco and owed it $391 million including interest.
Some holders of Ecuador's sovereign dollar-denominated bonds maturing in 2030, 2035 and 2040 have received interest payments which had been due on the securities on July 31, Reuters reported. A Luxembourg bailiff had ordered banks to freeze assets held by Ecuador at accounts in the country as a result of a dispute over a $391 million settlement award that Anglo-French oil company Perenco says remains unpaid, a document seen by Reuters show.
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Ecuador expects to pull together a trade deal with China at the end of this year and will begin formal debt re-negotiations with the Asian country, Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso said on Saturday, after a Beijing visit with his counterpart Xi Jinping, Reuters reported. China became Ecuador's top lender over the last decade, with millions of dollars in long-term credit tied to the handover of crude oil, large investments in hydro-electric and mining projects and other loans. "In China we had a productive meeting with the President Xi Jinping," Lasso posted on Twitter.
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Ecuador has reached a new staff-level agreement with the IMF that could result in $1.5 billion in new disbursements this year following promises by President Guillermo Lasso's government to cut spending, the finance minister said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The South American nation last year struck a $6.5 billion deal with the multilateral lender to help revive an economy that for years struggled under low oil prices and was further weakened by a brutal coronavirus outbreak.
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