QUITO (AFP) — Ecuador's government suggested Friday it may not make a 135-million-dollar interest payment on its international debt that is due this weekend, as part of a partial moratorium on debt repayments.
Quito has until Sunday to pay the 135-million-dollar interest payment on Global Bonds that mature in 2030, but Economic Minister Diego Borja said it "would be difficult" for the country to make the payment.
Economically-strapped Ecuador announced on December 15 that it was defaulting on its commercial debt.
Borja has said the government would honor debt it deems to have been contracted legally, and not debt it sees as illegally amassed and which it is challenging in court.
The moratorium remains in effect for bonds worth 510 million dollars due in 2012, which is also the subject of negotiations.
Combined the Global 2012 and Global 2030 bonds amount to 3.21 billion dollars, a third of the country's total 9.98 billion dollars in external debt, or 19 percent of gross domestic product.
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