QUITO, Jan 16 (Reuters) -
Ecuador on Tuesday doubled welfare payments to more than a million of the country's neediest and said it would seek advice on restructuring debt from Argentina.
The moves form part of the "citizens' revolution" launched by leftist President Rafael Correa, who took office on Monday, joining a growing club of leftist leaders in
Correa, a U.S.-educated economics professor, has already scared investors with his pledges to renegotiate debt, rework oil contracts and end the lease of a military base used by
He told a news conference he was raising the monthly payments to more than a million of the poor Andean state's most vulnerable, such as the sick and single mothers, to $30 from $15.
Earlier, Economy Minister Ricardo Patino said
"Next week the commission that renegotiated
Correa made reducing his country's debt payments a linchpin of his electoral campaign. On Monday he said he would renegotiate "firmly," labeling some debt as corrupt and calling for international arbitration on it.
He has already publicly praised the Argentine model and has not discounted it for
Patino said there was no time frame for starting negotiations with bondholders but they would take place at the "appropriate time."
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