Ecuador election: all eyes on debt risks

There seems to be little appetite for harsh IMF-mandated fiscal austerity among the leading candidates in Ecuador’s presidential election this week. The public finances will therefore remain in dire straits, and sovereign default risks will stay high, regardless of who wins. That said, a victory for left-wing populist Andrés Arauz over the conservative Guillermo Lasso may hasten a move towards a messy debt default.