Economy - overview:

Ecuador is substantially dependent on its petroleum resources, which have accounted for more than half of the country's export earnings and one-fourth of public sector revenues in recent years. In 1999/2000, Ecuador suffered a severe economic crisis, with GDP contracted by more than 6%, with a significant increase in poverty. The banking system also collapsed, and Ecuador defaulted on its external debt later that year. In March 2000, Congress approved a series of structural reforms that also provided for the adoption of the US dollar as legal tender. Dollarization stabilized the economy, and positive growth returned in the years that followed, helped by high oil prices, remittances, and increased non-traditional exports. From 2002-06 the economy grew 5.5%, the highest five-year average in 25 years. The poverty rate declined but remained high at 38% in 2006. In 2006 the government of Alfredo PALACIO (2005-07) seized the assets of Occidental Petroleum for alleged contract violations and imposed a windfall revenue tax on foreign oil companies, leading to the suspension of free trade negotiations with the US. These measures, combined with chronic underinvestment in the state oil company, Petroecuador, led to a drop in petroleum production in 2007. PALACIO's successor, Rafael CORREA, raised the specter of debt default - but Ecuador has paid its debt on time. He also decreed a higher windfall revenue tax on private oil companies, then sought to renegotiate their contracts to overcome the debilitating effect of the tax. This generated economic uncertainty; private investment has dropped and economic growth has slowed significantly.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$98.79 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$44.18 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

1.9% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$7,200 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 6.7%
industry: 35.1%
services: 58.2% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

4.51 million (urban) (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 8%
industry: 24%
services: 68% (2001)

Unemployment rate:

9.3% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

38.3% (2006)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 35%
note: data for urban households only (October 2006)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:

46
note: data are for urban households (2006)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

2.2% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):

22.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:

revenues: $13.46 billion
expenditures: planned $11.96 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt:

33.6% of GDP (2007 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:

1.4% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:

12.94 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption:

8.855 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:

16 million kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:

1.723 billion kWh (2005)

Oil - production:

538,000 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - consumption:

162,000 bbl/day (2005)

Oil - exports:

420,600 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - imports:

44,680 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves:

4.727 billion bbl (2007 est.)

Natural gas - production:

249.4 million cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:

249.4 million cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports:

0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - imports:

0 cu m (2005)

Natural gas - proved reserves:

9.369 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:

$1.464 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:

$14.37 billion (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

petroleum, bananas, cut flowers, shrimp, cacao, coffee, hemp, wood, fish

Exports - partners:

US 42%, Peru 8.5%, Colombia 6.3%, Chile 4.9% (2006)

Imports:

$12.76 billion (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

industrial materials, fuels and lubricants, nondurable consumer goods

Imports - partners:

US 21.6%, Colombia 12.4%, Brazil 6.8%, China 6.2% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:

$209.5 million (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$3.521 billion (30 November 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$16.93 billion (31 December 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:

$16.31 billion (2007 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$1.749 billion (2007 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$4.04 billion (2006)

Currency (code):

US dollar (USD)

Exchange rates:

the US dollar is used; the sucre was eliminated in 2000

Fiscal year:

calendar year