Ecuador’s access to global financial markets also had been limited by its 2008 default on $3.2 billion in debt to global lenders. Consequently, the Correa government turned to nontraditional allies, such as China, for external finance. From 2005 to 2014, Chinese banks provided almost $11 billion of financing to Ecuador. The Correa government also asked China for an additional $7.5 billion in financing in early 2015 as crude oil prices—the nation’s biggest export—weakened further. China agreed to the financing request and began to disburse funding, including nearly $1 billion in May and June 2015. Ecuador successfully returned to the international capital market in June 2014 with a $2 billion bond issue followed by additional smaller bond issues in 2015. President Moreno later discovered loans made by China over the years currently require that Ecuador pay China back with almost 500 barrels of crude oil—or roughly three years of the country’s oil production. According to press reports, some private sector analysts question whether Ecuador will be able to meet its debt obligations given two strains on the country’s public finances: the slump in oil income due to the commodity’s low price and the strong U.S. dollar, which, as a result of Ecuador’s dollarized economy, makes the country’s exports less globally competitive.