The sucre inauspiciously greeted the first two business days of the millennium by devaluing 15.5 percent against the dollar, closing at 24,750 Tuesday. In 1999, the sucre lost 67 percent of its worth against the greenback.

  "Demand for the dollar was massive because banks and clients bought them, since no one has confidence in the solutions offered by the government and monetary authorities to improve the country's economy," said a trader.

  Ecuadorean officials have been trying to brake the purchase of dollars since November via various restrictive monetary measures, but have had little success in the face of a spooked market.

  President Jamil Mahuad Tuesday met with economic officials including the head of the Central Bank to look for ways to defend the beleaguered sucre. The get-together failed to produce any announcement, deepening the nervous atmosphere in the marketplace.

  "It's the obligation of the authorities to....define what is on the horizon and what is in store in the short, medium and long range," said economic analyst Raul Guerrero.

  The small Andean nation of 12.4 million people was squeezed by 60 percent inflation and an estimated 7.3 percent economic contraction in 1999, the highest such numbers in Latin America.

  Unemployment stands at 17 percent accompanied by a poverty level of 62.5 percent. Currently there a moratorium on Ecuador's public debt of more than $13 billion.

  Tuesday people in the streets were scrambling to obtain greenbacks.

  "It's incredible, people are lining up and fighting to buy dollars," a client of a bank in Quito told Reuters.

  "The dollar definitely got out of the Central Bank's control and I think the government has to make an immediate decision to solve the crisis," said a trader.

  Local press said the government may be weighing dollarization or a return to the exchange band system used before the sucre was allowed to float freely in February.

  "If dollarization is part of a development plan, fine. If not, we are going to continue with the same (problems)," said economic analyst Fidel Marquez.

  Ecuador's gross domestic product is $13.66 billion and its per capita income stands at $1,101. For 2000 the country is aiming to knock inflation down to 50 percent and grow its economy by 2.5 percent.

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