Brazil Says Ecuador Could Lose Future Financing

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 9, 2008
Filed at 12:09 p.m. ET
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) -- Brazil's foreign minister says Ecuador could lose Brazilian financing for infrastructure projects because it is contesting payment of a loan for a hydroelectric dam.
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim tells lawmakers that Ecuador ''shot itself in the foot'' with its action, which also involved expelling executives of the Brazilian company that built the dam.
Ecuador has challenged the $246.9 million loan from Brazil's National Development Bank, alleging the dam builder did shoddy work.
Amorim said Tuesday that Brazil is among the few sources of loans left for Ecuador because of the global credit crunch. He says one project at risk is a land-and-river trade route linking Brazil's Amazon rain forest to Ecuador's Pacific coast.