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)