QUITO, Feb 14: Ecuador on Saturday took a 30-day grace period on a 135-million-dollar interest payment as part of a partial moratorium on repayments of disputed international debt, the government said.

Quito had until Sunday to pay the interest on Global Bonds that mature in 2030, but “Ecuador has decided to take a technical moratorium” on the payment, Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri told a press conference in the port city of Guayaquil.

“We are working to present an integral solution on the subject of the debt, and when we have a definite proposal Ecuador we will contact our creditors,” Viteri said, adding that the moratorium complied with the debt contracts and that Ecuador would not suffer sanctions by implementing the grace period.

Economic Minister Diego Borja said on Friday 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 which the government considers “illegitimate” due to suspected irregularities.

Ecuador has said the government would honour debt it deems to have been contracted legally, and not debt it sees as illegally amassed and which it is challenging in court.

Combined, the Global 2012 and Global 2030 bonds amount to $3.21 billion, a third of the country’s total $10.09 billion in external debt, or 19.2 per cent of gross domestic product, according to officials.

Viteri said Quito is seeking an exit from the “illegal and illegitimate” external debt that the government wishes to restructure.

“We have already held talks and there are some alternatives that are being evaluated,” Viteri said, referring to meetings officials held this past week in Quito with experts who presented several options that were under analysis.—AFP