By Katia Porzecanski and Nathan Gill
(Bloomberg) -- Six years ago, Ecuador President Rafael Correa’s government denounced the 10 percent in annual interest the country paid on its bonds as “usury.”
So when the 51-year-old former economics professor was willing to pay 10.5 percent in a sale of notes this month, it raised speculation the OPEC nation may be running short of cash after oil prices collapsed.
Before the March 19 sale, Ecuador told potential buyers it wanted to pay less than 8 percent to borrow at least $1 billion for as long as seven years, two people with knowledge of the offering said. Instead, the Andean nation got just $750 million for five years at yields that were more than two percentage points higher.
The sale “indicates that they are running into trouble,” Sarah Glendon, an economist at Gramercy Funds Management LLC, said by telephone from Greenwich, Connecticut.
The more than 50 percent plummet in the nation’s oil prices from their June peak last year caused bond…
So when the 51-year-old former economics professor was willing to pay 10.5 percent in a sale of notes this month, it raised speculation the OPEC nation may be running short of cash after oil prices collapsed.
Before the March 19 sale, Ecuador told potential buyers it wanted to pay less than 8 percent to borrow at least $1 billion for as long as seven years, two people with knowledge of the offering said. Instead, the Andean nation got just $750 million for five years at yields that were more than two percentage points higher.
The sale “indicates that they are running into trouble,” Sarah Glendon, an economist at Gramercy Funds Management LLC, said by telephone from Greenwich, Connecticut.
The more than 50 percent plummet in the nation’s oil prices from their June peak last year caused bond…