Overview: Ecuador has substantial oil resources and rich agricultural areas. Growth has been uneven because of natural disasters, fluctuations in global oil prices, and government policies designed to curb inflation. Banana exports, second only to oil, have suffered as a result of import quotas of the European Union and banana blight. The new President Sixto DURAN-BALLEN, has a much more favorable attitude toward foreign investment than did his predecessor. Ecuador has implemented trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela and has applied for GATT membership. At the end of 1991, Ecuador received a standby IMF loan of $105 million, which will permit the country to proceed with the rescheduling of Paris Club debt. In September 1992, the government launched a new, macroeconomic program that gives more play to market forces. In 1993, the DURAN-BALLEN administration adopted a rigorous austerity program that resulted in economic stabilization, with inflation cut in half and international reserves boosted to a record $1.3 billion. Growth in 1993 was perhaps only 2% due to falling export prices, notably oil, and slow progress on privatization.

National product: GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $41.8 billion

National product real growth rate: 2% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $4,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 31% (1993)

Unemployment rate: 8% (1992)

Budget:
revenues: $1.9 billion
expenditures: $1.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992)

Exports: $3 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: petroleum 42%, bananas, shrimp, cocoa, coffee
partners: US 53.4%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries

Imports: $2.5 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities: transport equipment, vehicles, machinery, chemicals
partners: US 32.7%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries, Japan

External debt: $12.7 billion (1992)

Industrial production: growth rate 3.9% (1991); accounts for almost 30% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity:
capacity: 2,921,000 kW
production: 7.676 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 700 kWh (1992)

Industries: petroleum, food processing, textiles, metal works, paper products, wood products, chemicals, plastics, fishing, timber

Agriculture: accounts for 18% of GDP and 35% of labor force (including fishing and forestry); leading producer and exporter of bananas and balsawood; other exports - coffee, cocoa, fish, shrimp; crop production - rice, potatoes, manioc, plantains, sugarcane; livestock sector - cattle, sheep, hogs, beef, pork, dairy products; net importer of foodgrains, dairy products, and sugar

Illicit drugs: significant transit country for derivatives of coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru; minor illicit producer of coca; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; important money-laundering hub

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $498 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.15 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $64 million

Currency: 1 sucre (S/) = 100 centavos
Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1 - 1,947.1 (October 1993), 1,534.0 (1992), 1,046.25 (1991), 767.8 (1990), 767.78 (1990), 526.35 (1989)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Ecuador on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ecuador Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ecuador Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.