Guillermo Lasso had his first official approach with the IMF and the IDB to establish negotiation agreements

The President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, held his first official meeting with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in order to strengthen ties with these multilateral organizations that will be a pillar to promote the economic reactivation of the country.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, Simón Cueva, reported that the president had a virtual meeting with the director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva.

Cueva said that it was a fruitful conversation and that they are aware that the IMF has been a very important partner of Ecuador in recent years and that it wants to continue being.

He stated that the Ecuadorian government is interested in having good relations that allow access to financing to strengthen the planned plans.

The Secretary of State commented that it was agreed to advance quickly in the negotiations of the agreement, but not without first reviewing it.

Cueva pointed out that the novelty this year is that the IMF will issue Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for all its associated countries, including Ecuador. SDRs are an asset that is converted into reserves. Ecuador would account for close to 1,000 million dollars. According to the IMF, approval to issue SDRs would take place in August.

In the case of the meeting with the IDB, the minister said that various issues of financial and technical cooperation were discussed.

Mauricio Claver-Carone, president of the IDB, pointed out that it is his first official mission since he took office in October 2020.

The IDB representative took the opportunity to talk about the vaccination process as it is key to Ecuador’s economic recovery.

He explained that, in March, the IDB supported financing to access 3.5 million doses through the Covax initiative and added that they will continue to support negotiations with pharmaceutical companies.

Among the plans that the IDB will support is the digitization of the Customs, justice and tax system, but will also include programs to combat child malnutrition and promote entrepreneurship, employment and culture.

Lasso mentioned that this meeting “constitutes a very good opportunity to review the relationship between Ecuador and this organization.”