In 1999, the total external debt stood at $4.8 billion.
It now has an external debt of about $20 billion.
The tax served to pay part of the country's external debt.
The country's external debt should fall to $111.9 billion by the end of 1989, the bank predicted.
This amounts to 13 times the country's total external debt.
External debt in June 1989 was estimated at $35,249 million.
China's external debt has reached $119 billion this year, one of the highest levels in the world.
The external debt alone was equivalent to 4 years of the government budget.
From 1985 until the beginning of 1987, Ecuador paid only the interest on its external debt.
In the early 1970s, the Philippines was already facing the problem of external debt.