China Rescues Ecuador Budget From Deeper Cuts as Crude Drops

Ecuador, an OPEC nation that relies on crude for about a quarter of revenue, obtained enough financing from China to avoid deeper budget cuts even as its oil price fell below $40 a barrel, Finance Minister Fausto Herrera said.

The Latin American country expects total financing needs for 2015 to rise to about $10.5 billion from a previous estimate of $8.81 billion, Herrera said today in an interview at his office in Quito. The government will use loans from China, multilateral lenders and the nation’s social security agency to help offset a drop in the price of crude, the nation’s biggest export, he said. The ministry isn’t planning to sell international bonds this year after global interest rates rose, he said.