QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- A bank teller is asked to cash a check and says, "Will
                  that be dollars or sucres?" A passenger asks a taxi driver if he can pay in U.S.
                  dollars. Stores and restaurants in Ecuador list prices in both currencies.

                  The scenes have become common in Ecuador since the beginning of April,
                  when the country started its gradual changeover to an all-dollar economy.
                  Increasingly, U.S. currency is used in everyday commerce, except for small
                  transactions.

                  Adopting the dollar comes after the near collapse of Ecuador's corruption-ridden
                  banking system that drove down the value of its currency, the sucre. Between
                  January 1999 and the beginning of this year, the sucre fell from 7,000 to the
                  dollar to nearly 30,000. Now, the exchange rate is roughly 25,000 sucres to the
                  dollar.

                  "The sooner we accept that there's no turning back, the sooner everyone will
                  start to get used to dollars," said Guillermo Buendia, a 54-year-old taxi driver.

                  The government of President Gustavo Noboa approved a far-reaching reform
                  package in March. Noboa took over from President Jamil Mahuad Mahuad, who
                  was forced from office in a military-backed Indian uprising: Protesters were
                  outraged over Mahuad's failure to stem corruption and end economic chaos.

                  Officials say the changes -- namely adopting the dollar -- can help end inflation
                  running at more than 80 percent a year, stabilize the economy and promote
                  investment. But the switchover hasn't come without problems.

                  For many people in Ecuador, the conversion of 25,000 sucres to the dollar is
                  proving to be a formidable task in an economy where most people get their milk,
                  bread, vegetable and meat in street markets from poorly educated vendors.

                  Only 2 percent of sidewalk merchants "know how to use dollars," said Elias
                  Guaranda, a leader of a group of vendors who attended a seminar to learn about
                  the dollar switch. It was offered by the Chamber of Commerce in the city of
                  Guayaquil, 265 kilometers (165 miles) southwest of Quito.

                  "I understand absolutely nothing, and until this mess is cleared up, I am not
                  going to accept dollars," said Jose Vera, a 60-year-old grocer in Quito, the
                  capital.

                  Government authorities have started an information campaign through
                  newspapers, radio and television, in both Spanish and Quichua, the mother
                  tongue of Ecuador's highland Indians, to explain the currency switch. They hope
                  to head off public anxiety about everything from how to handle the unfamiliar
                  foreign money to widespread fears of counterfeiting.

                  Last month, police caught two Ecuadoreans at a border crossing trying to enter
                  the country from Colombia with $40,000 in fake $100 bills. The impact was
                  immediate. Many stores throughout the country put up signs: "No $100 bills
                  accepted."

                  The recent ads explain how to tell a real dollar from a fake one.

                  Under the government's timetable, sucres and dollars will continue circulating
                  simultaneously until September 13, when Ecuadorean bills, such as the
                  dark-orange 50,000 sucre note which bears the national seal, will be pulled
                  forever. Starting June 13, Ecuador's banking operations are scheduled to be
                  carried out entirely in dollars.

                  On Monday, Noboa met with members of a delegation from the International
                  Monetary Fund to discuss the switch.

                  International lenders, including the IMF, have backed the plan, announcing a
                  three-year $2 billion aid package to help finance the rebuilding of Ecuador's
                  economy. After meeting with Noboa, Claudio Loser, the IMF's director for the
                  Western Hemisphere, said the currency changeover will give Ecuador an
                  opportunity to "put public finances in order and defend the poorest sectors of the
                  population."

                  Among the loan conditions set by the IMF are as-yet unspecified increases in the
                  price of government-subsidized gasoline and home cooking fuel, as well as
                  increases in electric and telephone rates.