Ecuador Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources, which have accounted for 40% of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of central government budget 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 - January 2003 to April 2005 - Ecuador benefited from higher world petroleum prices, but the government has made little progress on economic reforms necessary to reduce Ecuador's vulnerability to petroleum price swings and financial crises.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $49.51 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.8% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $3,700 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 8.7%
industry: 30.5%
services: 60.9% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
4.53 million (urban) (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 8%, industry 24%, services 68% (2001)

Unemployment rate:
11.1%; note - underemployment of 47% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line:
45% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 32%
note: data for urban households only (October 2003)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
42
note: data are for urban households (2003)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
20.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $7.9 billion
expenditures: planned $7.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.6 billion (2004 est.)

Public debt:
49.2% of GDP (2004 est.)

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

Industries:
petroleum, food processing, textiles, wood products, chemicals

Industrial production growth rate:
10% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production:
81.27 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
75.58 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
523,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
129,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
387,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - imports:
NA

Oil - proved reserves:
4.408 billion bbl (2004 est.)

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 (2004)

Current account balance:
$261.1 million (2004 est.)

Exports:
$7.56 billion (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities:
petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp

Exports - partners:
US 48.3%, Colombia 5.5%, Germany 4.8% (2004)

Imports:
$7.65 billion (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities:
vehicles, medicinal products, telecommunications equipment, electricity

Imports - partners:
US 24.5%, Colombia 12.7%, Venezuela 8.3%, Brazil 5.8%, Chile 4.9%, China 4.8%, Japan 4.3% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$1.436 billion (December 2004 est.)

Debt - external:
$16.81 billion (2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$216 million (2002)

Currency (code):
US dollar (USD)

Exchange rates:
25,000 (2004), 25,000 (2003), 25,000 (2002), 25,000 (2001), 24,988 (2000)