Ecuador

Ecuador is substantially dependent on its petroleum resources, which have accounted for more than half of the country’s export earnings and one-fourth of public sector revenues in recent years. In 1999/2000, Ecuador suffered a severe economic crisis, with GDP contracting by more than 6%. Poverty increased significantly, the banking system collapsed, and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt later that year. In March 2000, the Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and positive growth returned in the years that followed, helped by high oil prices, remittances, and increased non-traditional exports. From 2002-06 the economy grew 5.5%, the highest five-year average in 25 years. After moderate growth in 2007, the economy reached a growth rate of 7.2% in 2008, in large part due to high global petroleum prices. President Rafael CORREA, who took office in January 2007, defaulted on Ecuador’s sovereign debt in December 2008, refusing to make payment on $3.2 billion in international bonds, representing over 80% of Ecuador’s private external debt. Economic policies under the CORREA administration - including an announcement in late 2009 terminating 13 bilateral investment treaties - have generated economic uncertainty and discouraged private investment. The Ecuadorian economy slowed to 0.4% growth in 2009 due to the global financial crisis, and the sharp decline in world oil prices and remittance flows, but picked up to a 2.4% growth rate in 2010.

$114.7 billion (2010 est.)

$112 billion (2009 est.)

$111.6 billion (2008 est.)

$61.49 billion (2010 est.)

2.4% (2010 est.)

0.4% (2009 est.)

7.2% (2008 est.)

$7,800 (2010 est.)

$7,700 (2009 est.)

$7,800 (2008 est.)

4.59 million (urban) (2010 est.)

7.6% (2010 est.)

8.5% (2009 est.)

35.1% (2008)

47.9 (2009)

50.5 (2006)

23.7% of GDP (2010 est.)

23.1% of GDP (2010 est.)

19.7% of GDP (2009 est.)

3.6% (2010 est.)

8.4% (2008 est.)

9.19% (31 December 2009)

9.14% (31 December 2008)

19% (31 December 2009)

9.14% (31 December 2008)

$6.198 billion (31 December 2010 est)

$5.201 billion (31 December 2009 est)

$18.62 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$15.47 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$14.92 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$12.31 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$4.248 billion (31 December 2009)

$4.562 billion (31 December 2008)

$4.266 billion (31 December 2007)

bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp

petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals

2% (2010 est.)

16.42 billion kWh (2007 est.)

15.81 billion kWh (2007 est.)

20.68 million kWh (2007 est.)

1.12 billion kWh (2007 est.)

485,700 bbl/day (2009 est.)

181,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

327,600 bbl/day (2009 est.)

54,190 bbl/day (2007 est.)

6.542 billion bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

260 million cu m (2008 est.)

260 million cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

7.985 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$692 million (2010 est.)

-$337.4 million (2009 est.)

$17.37 billion (2010 est.)

$14.35 billion (2009 est.)

petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp, cacao, coffee, hemp, wood, fish

US 33.5%, Peru 6.8%, Chile 6.5%, Columbia 4.9%, Colombia 4.58%, Russia 4.11% (2009)

$17.65 billion (2010 est.)

$14.27 billion (2009 est.)

industrial materials, fuels and lubricants, nondurable consumer goods

US 25.4%, Columbia 10.6%, Venezuela 6.5%, Brazil 4.5%, Brazil 4.35% (2009)

$3.59 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$3.792 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$14.71 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$13.48 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$12.3 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$11.95 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$NA (31 December 2010 est.)

$8.019 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

1 (2010), 1 (2009)