Ecuador's President Rafael Correa addresses supporters in Quito on March 28. Correa, who took office in 2007, said the IMF has been harmful to his country. - Reuters

Ecuador's leftist president said Sunday the country has paid off its debt to the International Monetary Fund and will sever ties with the financial institution.

In a news conference in the port city Guayaquil, Rafael Correa said it was a 'happy coincidence' that Ecuador made the US$9 million payment to the "international bureaucracy" the same week fellow leftist country Venezuela said it had paid off its remaining debt with the IMF and World Bank.

"We don't want to hear anything more from that international bureaucracy," Correa said, brushing off suspicions that "we are imitating brother nation Venezuela."

When he took office three months ago, Correa, a United States-trained economist, vowed to renegotiate the country's US$16.4 billion (euro12.1 billion) foreign debt and direct resources to programmes to help the poor.

Correa, a staunch ally of Venezuela's President Hugo Chvez, has frequently criticised the "unacceptable conditions" of IMF loans, and said Sunday that the institution has "been harmful for the country."

AP