Socialist Correa Seeking to Boost Capital Markets in Ecuador

Ecuador President Rafael Correa, re-elected in February on pledges to “radicalize” his socialist push, is proposing to modernize the country’s markets after the fashion of capitalist countries he has criticized.

Correa, a 50-year-old former economics professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, sent legislation to congress on April 5 that would integrate the country’s two securities exchanges and require them to convert into for-profit entities, according to a copy of the bill obtained by Bloomberg News and confirmed by a congressional press officer.