IMF Approves $1 Billion for Ecuador while Police Repression of Protests Increases

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved the disbursement of $1 billion for Ecuador as part of the extended agreement within the framework of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), signed in 2020 between the IMF and the government of Ecuador.

In a statement issued on Friday, June 24, the IMF announced that the disbursement will be immediate and that it will go to the General State Budget of Ecuador. The statement added that the disbursement has been apprved after the evaluation of the goals for the fourth and fifth revision of the program of $6.5 billion in credit, which is aimed at the economic recovery of the country after the pandemic, restoration of fiscal sustainability and reduction of public debt.

IMF further reported that the Executive Board approved the Ecuadorian authorities’ request for an exemption from non-compliance, one of the goals set for the end of December 2021. According to the IMF, the non-compliance occurred in the performance criterion on the global balance that the General State Budget and the Financing Account for Deficit Derivatives (CFDD) should have acchieved.

The IMF Executive Board noted that in a report by the Managing Director, inaccurate data corresponding to the obligations of transfers for pensions and health expenses were provided to the fund of the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS).

After the approval of the disbursement, the government announced that it will adopt corrective measures regarding the IESS debt.

Ecuador has already received $4.8 billion of the $6.5 billion approved. A sixth and final review of the agreement is scheduled for later this year, with the aim of setting the disbursement of the remaining $700 million before the EFF agreement ends.

13 days of protests
The announcement comes at a time when Ecuador is experiencing a national strike against the social and economic policies of the government of Guillermo Lasso, called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

The national strike, which entered 13 days this Saturday, has been joined by trade unions, students bodies, human rights groups and other social organizations, who denounce steep increase in prices of food and fuel, widespread insecurity, lack of medicines and medical supplies in healthcare centers, unemployment, and complaints related to agricultural production and indebtedness of the peasant sectors.

The indigenous movement has criticized the government for focusing “foolishly” on following IMF policies, which systematically affect the population, preventing greater coverage of economic aid for vulnerable sectors due to elimination of subsidies and increases in taxes.

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In this context, CONAIE President Leonidas Iza said that President Lasso should focus less on following IMF policies if he wants to fix the country’s economic and social problems.

Iza added that the protests will continue indefinitely until the president responds to the 10-point demands of the strike: reduction and no further increase of fuel prices; moratorium and renegotiation of bank debts for more than 4 million families; fair prices for agricultural products; employment and labor rights; health and education programs; a moratorium on the expansion of the extractive mining/oil industry in indigenous and protected territories; respect for the 21 collective rights; an end to the privatization of strategic sectors; price control policies; and effective public policy to curb the wave of violence that keeps Ecuador in distress.

As a condition to start a dialogue with the government, CONAIE has demanded the immediate cessation of repression and criminalization of the protests and the repeal of the state of exception and militarization imposed in six provinces of the country.

Violation of rights and excessive use of force
Excessive use of police force and violation of human rights of the protesters have been condemned on several occasions, as well as acts of vandalism against public buildings, although CONAIE has publicly clarified that the vandals “are not part of the indigenous movement” and reiterated that it is protesting peacefully throughout the country.

The Alliance for Human Rights of Ecuador, which brings together 15 organizations, has reported 64 cases of human rights violations, five deaths, five disappearances, 166 injuries and 108 arrests until June 24. Meanwhile, Lasso authorized the “progressive use of force,” and warned that the National Police and the Armed Forces “will act with any means necessary to defend public order and democracy, within the legal framework, through the progressive use of force.”

(RT)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

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