Overview: Ecuador has substantial oil resources and rich agricultural areas. Growth has been uneven because of natural disasters (e.g., a major earthquake in 1987), fluctuations in global oil prices, and government policies designed to curb inflation. The government has not taken a supportive attitude toward either domestic or foreign investment, although its agreement to enter the Andean free trade zone is an encouraging move.

GDP: $10.6 billion, per capita $1,010; real growth rate 1.5% (1990)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 49.5% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 8.0% (1990)

Budget: revenues $2.2 billion; expenditures $2.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $375 million (1991)

Exports: $2.7 billion (f.o.b., 1990); commodities--petroleum 47%, coffee, bananas, cocoa products, shrimp, fish products; partners--US 60%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries

Imports: $1.7 billion (f.o.b., 1990); commodities--transport equipment, vehicles, machinery, chemicals; partners--US 34%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC, Japan

External debt: $11.8 billion (December 1990)

Industrial production: growth rate - 3.8% (1989); accounts for almost 40% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity: 1,983,000 kW capacity; 6,011 million kWh produced, 570 kWh per capita (1990)

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: relatively small producer of coca following the successful eradication campaign of 1985-87; significant transit country, however, for derivatives of coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $498 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $1.7 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $64 million

Currency: sucre (plural--sucres); 1 sucre (S/) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1--869.54 (December 1990), 767.75 (1990), 526.35 (1989), 301.61 (1988), 170.46 (1987), 122.78 (1986), 69.56 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Ecuador on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ecuador Economy 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ecuador Economy 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.