Ecuador Economy
Economy - overviewEcuador has substantial petroleum resources, which have accounted for 40% of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of public sector revenues in recent years. Consequently, fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. In the late 1990s, Ecuador suffered its worst economic crisis, with natural disasters and sharp declines in world petroleum prices driving Ecuador's economy into free fall in 1999. Real GDP contracted by more than 6%, with poverty worsening significantly. The banking system also collapsed, and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt later that year. The currency depreciated by some 70% in 1999, and, on the brink of hyperinflation, the MAHAUD government announced it would dollarize the economy. A coup, however, ousted MAHAUD from office in January 2000, and after a short-lived junta failed to garner military support, Vice President Gustavo NOBOA took over the presidency. In March 2000, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided the framework for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and growth returned to its pre-crisis levels in the years that followed. Under the administration of Lucio GUTIERREZ, who took office in January 2003, Ecuador benefited from higher world petroleum prices, but the government has made little progress on fiscal reforms and reforms of state-owned enterprises necessary to reduce Ecuador's vulnerability to petroleum price swings and financial crises.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $45.65 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
2.5% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $3,300 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 8.7%
industry: 29.7%
services: 61.6% (2003 est.)
Investment
21.7% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
65% (2003 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 33.8% (1995)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
43.7 (1995)
Inflation rate
7.9% (2003 est.)
Labor force
4.36 million (urban) (2003)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45% (2001 est.)
Unemployment rate
9.8%; note - underemployment of 47% (2003 est.)
Budget
revenues: $6.908 billion
expenditures: planned $6.594 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2003)
Public debt
53.7% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products
bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp
Industries
petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals
Industrial production growth rate
5.3% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production
75.23 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
69.96 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production
421,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
129,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Oil - proved reserves
2.358 billion bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production
160 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
160 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves
106.5 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance
$-117 million (2003)
Exports
$6.073 billion (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp
Exports - partners
US 42.4%, Colombia 5.7%, Germany 5.6% (2003)
Imports
$6.22 billion (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
consumer goods, industrial raw materials, capital goods
Imports - partners
US 23.9%, Colombia 12.8%, Venezuela 7.1%, Brazil 6.1%, Chile 4.8%, Japan 4.2% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$1.161 billion (2003)
Debt - external
$15.69 billion (2003)
Currency
US dollar (USD)
Currency code
USD
Exchange rates
Ecuador formally adopted the US dollar as legal tender in March 2000
