Ecuador Economy - 2023

Economic overview

highly informal South American economy; USD currency user; major banana exporter; hard hit by COVID-19; macroeconomic fragility from oil dependency; successful debt restructuring; China funding budget deficits; social unrest hampering economic activity

Real GDP (purchasing power parity)

$189.88 billion (2021 est.)

$182.165 billion (2020 est.)

$197.549 billion (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

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Real GDP growth rate

4.24% (2021 est.)

-7.79% (2020 est.)

0.01% (2019 est.)

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Real GDP per capita

$10,700 (2021 est.)

$10,400 (2020 est.)

$11,400 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

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GDP (official exchange rate)

$107.436 billion (2019 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

0.13% (2021 est.)

-0.34% (2020 est.)

0.27% (2019 est.)

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Credit ratings

Fitch rating: B- (2020)

Moody's rating: Caa3 (2020)

Standard & Poors rating: B- (2020)

note: The year refers to the year in which the current credit rating was first obtained.

GDP - composition, by sector of origin

agriculture: 6.7% (2017 est.)

industry: 32.9% (2017 est.)

services: 60.4% (2017 est.)

GDP - composition, by end use

household consumption: 60.7% (2017 est.)

government consumption: 14.4% (2017 est.)

investment in fixed capital: 24.3% (2017 est.)

investment in inventories: 1% (2017 est.)

exports of goods and services: 20.8% (2017 est.)

imports of goods and services: -21.3% (2017 est.)

Agricultural products

sugar cane, bananas, milk, oil palm fruit, maize, rice, plantains, poultry, cocoa, potatoes

Industries

petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals

Industrial production growth rate

0.49% (2021 est.)

note: excludes oil refining

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Labor force

8.528 million (2021 est.)

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Labor force - by occupation

agriculture: 26.1%

industry: 18.4%

services: 55.5% (2017 est.)

Unemployment rate

6.43% (2021 est.)

6.11% (2020 est.)

3.81% (2019 est.)

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Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 14.2%

male: 11.4%

female: 18.8% (2021 est.)

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Population below poverty line

25% (2019 est.)

Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income

47.3 (2020 est.)

note: data are for urban households only

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Average household expenditures

on food: 26.2% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

on alcohol and tobacco: 0.8% of household expenditures (2018 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share

lowest 10%: 1.4%

highest 10%: 35.4% (2012 est.)

note: data are for urban households only

Budget

revenues: $35.914 billion (2019 est.)

expenditures: $39.319 billion (2019 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

-4.5% (of GDP) (2017 est.)

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Public debt

45.4% of GDP (2017 est.)

43.2% of GDP (2016 est.)

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Taxes and other revenues

12.54% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

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Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

$2.952 billion (2021 est.)

$2.69 billion (2020 est.)

-$59.36 million (2019 est.)

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Exports

$29.325 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$22.401 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$26.12 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

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Exports - partners

United States 30%, China 13%, Panama 8%, Chile 7% (2019)

Exports - commodities

crude petroleum, shrimp, bananas, refined petroleum, tuna (2021)

Imports

$28.567 billion (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$19.877 billion (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

$25.89 billion (2019 est.) note: data are in current year dollars

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Imports - partners

United States 22%, China 18%, Colombia 9%, Panama 5% (2019)

Imports - commodities

refined petroleum, coal tar oil, cars, packaged medicines, soybean products (2019)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

$7.912 billion (31 December 2021 est.)

$7.137 billion (31 December 2020 est.)

$2.939 billion (31 December 2019 est.)

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Debt - external

$50.667 billion (2019 est.)

$43.224 billion (2018 est.)

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Exchange rates

1 (2021 est.)

1 (2020 est.)

1 (2019 est.)

1 (2018 est.)

1 (2017 est.)

the US dollar became Ecuador's currency in 2001

NOTE: The information regarding Ecuador on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Ecuador 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Ecuador 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.