News In Brief

Ecuador follows Bolivia in halting debt payments

Ecuador announced Monday it had suspended capital and interest payments on $ 247.5 million of debts to foreign governments and suppliers and was seeking rescheduling of the debt.

The announcement came less than a week after Bolivia decided to temporarily suspend foreign debt payments to private banks. Bolivia's foreign debt totals about $4.4 billion, about $1 billion of which is owed to a consortium of US banks.