Overview: Ecuador has substantial oil resources and rich agricultural areas. Growth has been uneven because of natural disasters, fluctuations in global oil prices, and government policies designed to curb inflation. Banana exports, second only to oil, have suffered as a result of EC import quotas and banana blight. The new President Sixto DURAN-BALLEN, has a much more favorable attitude toward foreign investment than did his predecessor. Ecuador has implemented trade agreements with Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Venezuela and has applied for GATT membership. At the end of 1991, Ecuador received a standby IMF loan of $105 million, which will permit the country to proceed with the rescheduling of Paris Club debt. In September 1992, the government launched a new, macroeconomic program that gives more play to market forces; as of March 1993, the program seemed to be paying off.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $11.8 billion (1992)

National product real growth rate: 3% (1992)

National product per capita: $1,100 (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 70% (1992)

Unemployment rate: 8% (1992)

Budget: revenues $1.9 billion; expenditures $1.9 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992)

External debt: $12.7 billion (1992)

Industrial production: growth rate 3.9% (1991); accounts for almost 40% of GDP, including petroleum

Electricity: 2,921,000 kW capacity; 7,676 million kWh produced, 700 kWh per capita (1992)

Industries: petroleum, food processing, textiles, metal works, paper products, wood products, chemicals, plastics, fishing, timber

Agriculture: accounts for 18% of GDP and 35% of labor force (including fishing and forestry); leading producer and exporter of bananas and balsawood; other exports - coffee, cocoa, fish, shrimp; crop production - rice, potatoes, manioc, plantains, sugarcane; livestock sector - cattle, sheep, hogs, beef, pork, dairy products; net importer of foodgrains, dairy products, and sugar

Illicit drugs: minor illicit producer of coca following the successful eradication campaign of 1985-87; significant transit country, however, for derivatives of coca originating in Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; important money-laundering hub

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $498 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $2.15 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $64 million

Currency: 1 sucre (S/)=100 centavos

Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1 - 1,453.8 (August 1992), 1,046.25 (1991), 869.54 (December 1990), 767.75 (1990), 526.35 (1989), 301.61 (1988)

Fiscal year: calendar year