Talk of Money Change in Ecuador

Friday March 27

We went to San Rafael to go on the internet. Then we went to the mall.

Mathieu called and told me that he called his bank (the same one that I bank at) and the girl there said when Ecuador changes currency the Euros will have to be changed to. In other words you don’t have any protection. He told me that he will be taking his money out a little at a time and keep it in Euros. I told him that I’ll do the same thing.

I don’t like to leave that much money at home, but I’ll have to do it.

I was told that the Russia Central Bank is printing the currency for Ecuador and it’ll be called El Condor.

Matt also told me that the law where it requires you to report your world-wide assets applies only to Ecuadorians – according to Maria. Richard had heard differently. In either case, I will not report what we have and neither will Jayne.

I called Richard after I talked to Mathieu, to warn him about what is coming. He told me that his money is in certificates of deposits and this will not affect him. However, he admits that this country doesn’t follow its own laws. If I was him I would get those CDs and change it to another currency.

Richard said that the change probably will not come until after the run-off election. The election will be in the end of April but there will be a run-off which is usually about two months later. He said that the President will not want to risk doing it before he’s elected. I agree with him with the exception that if the dollar goes to pot I’m sure Carerra will change the currency if the dollar goes down before election. The reason why I think this is that it will look worse with Ecuador having a worthless US dollar. So, it can happen at any time.