Ecuador Will Allow Currency to Float

Ecuador abandoned a defense of its currency, the sucre, trying to stem a decline in its hard currency reserves that had raised doubts about its ability to pay foreign debts. The sucre weakened 8% to 7,950 sucres to the dollar, after the central bank said it would no longer defend the currency. The sucre had fallen as much as 16% earlier. The devaluation, which followed the resignation late Thursday of Finance Minister Fidel Jaramillo, is the latest blow for Ecuador’s $20-billion economy, savaged by high interest rates, plunging oil prices and last year’s El Nino-related storms and flooding.