"Ecuador has signed a $4.2bn programme with the IMF, signalling a final break by President Lenín Moreno with the policies of his leftist predecessor in a deal that he said saved the country from becoming like Venezuela. The loan to the Opec country forms part of a larger $10bn package with other multilateral lenders... “Thanks to the firm decisions I have made, we are not what Venezuela is today . . . we have recovered democracy,” Mr Moreno said... “This money will create work opportunities for those who have not found something stable.” The IMF deal comes on the seventh anniversary of Mr Assange’s asylum at the embassy... “Ecuador's willingness to call the IMF certainly proves that the government is serious about stabilising the country's finances and embracing economic reforms,” said Siobhan Morden, head of Latin American fixed income strategy at Nomura... Investors praised Mr Moreno’s decision to get ahead of Ecuador’s economic problems by turning to multilateral lenders now... Ecuador’s extended fund facility with the IMF, which must still be approved by the Washington-based lender’s board, will support the government’s plans to create a “more dynamic, sustainable and inclusive economy,” said Anna Ivanova, the IMF mission chief to Ecuador."