Indigenous people at the heart of Ecuador's biggest protests in more than a decade are vowing to stay on the streets unless President Lenin Moreno repeals austerity measures linked to securing a $4.2 billion International Monetary Fund loan.

"We're defending the country. He's doing everything wrong," said Maria Lourdes Castillo, a 26-year-old broccoli picker from the highland province of Cotopaxi as she took off her shoes to rest her feet during a brief break from protests.

Castillo, wearing a traditional bowler hat and layered skirt, said Moreno's decision to end a four-decade subsidy on fuel had already started to push up prices on a wide range of products. "But our wages won't go up. They never do," she said.

Protests that started a week ago burgeoned into a massive nationwide strike on Wednesday, with workers unions joining several thousand indigenous people marching in the highland capital as many more rallied around the provinces.