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Ecuador Congress OKs US Dollar Plan

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- In a close vote, Ecuador's Congress has passed a reform package to speed up the Andean nation's switch to the U.S. dollar as the official currency.

The bill was approved by 63 legislators in the 123-member legislature late Tuesday after a second and final debate that lasted nearly 10 hours.

Supporters of the switch to the dollar say the move will curb inflation by prohibiting the nation from printing more money to meet its budget. Ecuador's annual inflation stands at more than 90 percent, the highest in Latin America.

President Gustavo Noboa now has 10 days to ratify the law, which lays out a 180-day schedule to withdraw the local currency, the sucre, from circulation and replace it with the greenback.

Finance Minister Jorge Guzman on Wednesday appealed to Ecuadoreans ``not to fear'' the currency changeover and instead see it as an alternative to the nation's inefficient and corrupt financial system.

Ecuador turned to the dollar plan in early January when the value of the sucre went into virtual free-fall after the near collapse of the country's banking system.

Polls have showed that more than 60 percent of Ecuadoreans reject the dollar plan. It was one of the issues that prompted hundreds of Indians and young army officers to seize the empty Congress building on Jan. 21, leading to the ouster of the previous president, Jamil Mahuad.