- Ecuador won't make a $30.6 million bond interest payment due Dec. 15, putting the country in default for a second time this decade, President Rafael Correa said. "The country is in default," Correa told reporters in his office in Guayaquil. He said the government will seek a restructuring with bondholders. By defaulting, Correa fulfills a threat he made during his 2006 presidential campaign and reiterated throughout the first two years of his term. His decision comes as a deepening global economic slump throttles demand for oil, the country's biggest export. Ecuador, which defaulted in 1999, owes about $10 billion to bondholders, multilateral lenders and other countries