Ecuador Economy - 2024

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

Real GDP growth rate

4.24% (2021 est.)
-7.79% (2020 est.)
0.01% (2019 est.)

Real GDP per capita

$10,700 (2021 est.)
$10,400 (2020 est.)
$11,400 (2019 est.)

note: data are in 2017 dollars

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.)

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

Labor force

8.528 million (2021 est.)

Unemployment rate

6.43% (2021 est.)
6.11% (2020 est.)
3.81% (2019 est.)

Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)

total: 14.2% (2021 est.)

male: 11.4%

female: 18.8%

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

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

Remittances

4.11% of GDP (2021 est.)
3.37% of GDP (2020 est.)
3% of GDP (2019 est.)

Budget

revenues: $35.914 billion (2019 est.)

expenditures: $39.319 billion (2019 est.)

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

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

Public debt

45.4% of GDP (2017 est.)
43.2% of GDP (2016 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

12.54% (of GDP) (2020 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Current account balance

$2.952 billion (2021 est.)
$2.69 billion (2020 est.)
-$59.36 million (2019 est.)

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

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

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.)

Debt - external

$50.667 billion (2019 est.)
$43.224 billion (2018 est.)

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