Newly elected Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa, announced in January that he would make early repayments of his country’s $33 million debt to the IMF. This decision came after months of speculation that Correa would declare a debt moratorium, including on the amounts outstanding to the Fund. Correa has turned to Argentina, rather than the IMF, for advice on renegotiating the terms of its external debt with private creditors, inviting an Argentine team to Quito for technical assistance. Despite a November IMF statement that the Philippines would not be repaying early, at the end of the year the governor of the central bank announced the prepayment of $220 million that was due in April 2007.