Oil price woes | Ecuador gets USD5.3 billion China credit

Ecuador’s state-run news agency says the Andean country has secured a USD5.3 billion line of credit from China to help it cope with a budget shortfall caused by plunging oil prices.
Yesterday’s announcement by Andes quoted Finance Minister Fausto Herrera as saying the money would be used for social spending, infrastructure and irrigation.
It comes as President Rafael Correa begins an official visit to China, his country’s principal creditor.
Lower petroleum prices have forced Ecuador to cut its budget by $1.4 billion, impose tariffs on imports from neighboring Peru and Colombia and revoke a 5 percent raise that state employees were to have received this year.
The credit line comes from China’s Eximbank, which is already financing hydroelectric projects in Ecuador.

Grenada reaches deal to pay only half of USD22M it owes Taiwan

Grenada’s prime minister says the eastern Caribbean island will only have to pay half of a USD22 million debt it owes Taiwan.
Keith Mitchell said earlier this week that the government of Taiwan agreed to a payment plan for loans it awarded over a 10-year period.
Taiwan’s Export-Import Bank had been seeking sought to recover $22 million from Grenada for loans taken out for a sports stadium, road construction projects and other developments.
Grenada severed ties with Taiwan in 2005 and sided with China as it sought funds following heavy damage by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. AP