Economy - overview:
Ecuador 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. The government is using oil revenues to pay off Ecuador's massive foreign debt and has secured a new standby agreement with the IMF.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $45.46 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.6% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,300 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 11%
industry: 33%
services: 56% (2001 est.)
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 (consumer prices):
6.1% (yearend 2003 est.)
Labor force:
3.8 million (urban) (2002)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45% (2001 est.)
Unemployment rate:
9.8%; note - underemployment of 47% (2003 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $6.3 billion
expenditures: planned $5.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2002)
Industries:
petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals
Industrial production growth rate:
5% (2001 est.)
Electricity - production:
75.23 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 81%
hydro: 19%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
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
Oil - imports:
NA
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)
Agriculture - products:
bananas, coffee, cocoa, rice, potatoes, manioc (tapioca), plantains, sugarcane; cattle, sheep, pigs, beef, pork, dairy products; balsa wood; fish, shrimp
Exports:
$6.073 billion (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities:
petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp
Exports - partners:
US 40.3%, Colombia 5.8%, Germany 5.4%, South Korea 5.3%, Italy 4.6% (2002)
Imports:
$6.22 billion (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities:
consumer goods, industrial raw materials, capital goods
Imports - partners:
US 26.8%, Colombia 13.6%, Brazil 6.5%, Venezuela 5.7%, Japan 5.7%, Chile 4.2% (2002)
Debt - external:
$14.4 billion (2002)
Economic aid - recipient:
$120 million (2001)
Currency:
US dollar (USD)
Currency code:
USD
Exchange rates:
Ecuador formally adopted the US dollar as legal tender in March 2000
Fiscal year:
calendar year
