Ecuador leader says OPEC should mull higher output

LIMA (Reuters) - Oil cartel OPEC should consider raising output because record high prices are hurting poor nations, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said late on Thursday.

"I think OPEC has to deal with this issue, because this is hitting all the poorest countries that are oil importers," he told Reuters during a summit of European and Latin American leaders in the Peruvian capital, Lima.

"And indirectly in OPEC members, like our country, it's one of the factors generating inflation around the world, which also hurts the poorest people," he said.

OPEC-member Ecuador, South America's fifth-largest oil producer, has an output of about 500,000 barrels per day.

"The dialogue must continue to reach solutions. It's on the agenda and it's being discussed," Correa added.

(Reporting by Terry Wade and Teresa Cespedes; Editing by Helen Popper)