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Ecuador Trade and Balance of Payments
The health of the Ecuadorian economy was dependent on foreign
trade. But this dependence left the country vulnerable to the
vagaries of international commerce, especially the unpredictability
of prices for Ecuadorian export goods.
The improved performance of the economy during the 1970s was
the result mainly of the rapid acceleration of Ecuador's oil
exports beginning in 1972 and a sharp increase in international
petroleum prices starting in 1974. In 1971 crude petroleum exports
made up less than 1 percent of total exports and were valued at
US$1.2 million. The volume of petroleum exports expanded
dramatically in 1972 and 1973; by 1974 petroleum made up almost 65
percent of the country's commodity exports and was valued at US$792
million. Although domestic consumption of petroleum derivatives
rose steadily and the volume of Ecuadorian oil exports moderated
during the remainder of the 1970s, the spectacular rise in the
early 1980s of the crude oil price, which reached a peak of
US$34.50 in 1981, resulted in sharp increases in petroleum export
revenue. The rapid decline in international oil prices that began
in 1986 and the 1987 suspension of crude petroleum production in
the aftermath of a destructive earthquake produced a 50-percent
drop in the value of Ecuadorian crude petroleum exports in 1986-87
(see
table 15, Appendix).
Ecuador's substantial income from crude oil exports had
positive and negative effects on the economy. During the 1960s,
foreign-exchange reserves averaged about US$25 million. Because of
the oil boom, the balance-of-payments situation improved during the
mid- to late 1970s. Net foreign-exchange earnings, for example, had
reached US$230 million by the end of 1973 and more than US$350
million in 1974. This improvement in foreign exchange had a
positive impact on the economy, but that gain was partially wiped
out by the relaxation of import restrictions, which allowed the
import volume to go up almost 50 percent in 1974. Growing oil
export revenue also encouraged the government to subsidize
commodities such as gasoline and food items, expand public-sector
employment, increase government-sponsored social benefits, and
finance the growing budget deficit through foreign borrowing.
Austerity measures were implemented in the mid-1980s to reduce the
cost of subsidized goods, but by the end of the decade the
government had failed to adequately tackle its growing budget
deficits or its foreign debt payment problems.
In 1970 fish, timber, and other agricultural products, mainly
bananas, coffee, cacao, and sugar, had accounted for almost 90
percent of foreign-exchange earnings. But the dramatic increase in
petroleum production that began in 1972 profoundly altered the
country's long-term export structure. First, petroleum displaced
agricultural products as the country's major export commodity, and,
second, the overall value of exports grew tenfold between 1970 and
1980, from US$235 million in 1970 to US$2.52 billion in 1980.
Between 1974 and 1981, gains in export earnings were mainly the
result of favorable international prices for Ecuadorian
commodities, including farm products. The value of commodity
exports leveled off during the first half of the 1980s and then
declined moderately to US$2.19 billion in 1986, reflecting the fall
of international crude petroleum prices. The value of commodity
exports remained stable during 1987, 1988, and 1989--US$2.0
billion, US$2.2 billion, and US$2.3 billion, respectively. In 1989
petroleum accounted for about 50 percent of export revenues. In the
same year, the value of shrimp exports amounted to US$348 million;
banana exports, US$316 million; coffee, US$191 million; and raw
cacao, US$73 million.
Also during the 1970s, imports rose by an average of 11 percent
per annum, and the value of imports grew steadily between 1970,
when it stood at US$249.6 million, and 1981, when it stood at
US$2.36 billion. The value of imports declined after 1981, falling
to US$1.6 billion in 1986. Although the value of imports had
multiplied sixfold since 1970, the structure of imports changed
only in minor details. Capital goods for industry, for example,
represented 15.4 percent of total imports in 1970; by 1975 capital
goods were averaging about 22 percent of total imports, and they
would remain at that level until 1987. The growth in imports of
capital goods was consistent with increases in manufacturing
output. Imports of durable consumer goods averaged about 15 percent
of total imports during the early 1980s, compared with an average
of slightly less than 5 percent during the 1970s, when the process
of import substitution (see Glossary)
for consumer goods was
moderately more successful than in the 1980s. In 1986, however, as
the government's import restrictions and devaluations of the sucre
took effect, only 7.7 percent of imports would come under the
category of durable consumer goods (see
table 16, Appendix).
In 1987, 61 percent of exports went to the United States, and
30 percent of imports came from the United States, making that
country Ecuador's main trading partner. Wheat, assorted machinery,
transport equipment, and chemicals were the principal United States
exports to Ecuador in 1987. Shrimp, petroleum, bananas, coffee, and
cacao were the principal United States imports from Ecuador in the
same year. Other major trading partners included the European
Community, other Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Japan
(see
table 17, Appendix).
Ecuador's current-account balance varied, registering an
average yearly deficit of US$100 million during the 1970s.
Financing the current-account deficits was not difficult as long as
Ecuador enjoyed continuing improvements in its
terms of trade (see Glossary).
By 1977 it was clear that the balance of payments was
being supported by high oil receipts and external borrowing. The
gradual decline of international crude petroleum prices beginning
in 1982, coupled with a poor export performance during 1982-83,
made it more difficult for the government to secure external
financing from foreign commercial banks. Export earnings fell by
about 8 percent in 1982, and despite a moderate reduction in the
volume of imports, the current-account deficit passed the US$1
billion mark, which in 1982 represented 9 percent of GDP.
To deal with the balance-of-payments crisis, in 1982 the
government, in cooperation with an IMF fiscal austerity program,
devalued the sucre for the first time since 1971. Another sharp
devaluation occurred in 1983, when the government also introduced
new exchange controls, prohibited or limited the importation of
some items, and reduced fuel and export subsidies. During late 1982
and early 1983, crop production and exports dropped sharply because
of the devastating effects of El Niño, but they returned to 1980
levels by mid-1984. Meanwhile, the government began negotiations to
reschedule the external debt. The austerity plan, although painful,
helped Ecuador to virtually eliminate its current-account deficit
by the end of 1983. Ecuador's current-account deficit was offset by
a virtually identical surplus in 1985.
In 1986 the international price of crude petroleum dropped
sharply to an average of US$15.35 from the previous year's average
of US$27.16. The result was a decline in foreign-exchange earnings
and a return to chronic current-account deficits during the 1986-89
period. In 1987, the year of the US$700 million oil revenue loss,
the current-account deficit reached -US$1.13 billion. The currentaccount deficit improved in 1988 when it stood at -US$597 million;
in 1989 the deficit decreased slightly to about -US$500 million
(see
table 18, Appendix). Nevertheless, despite these improvements,
the prospects for Ecuador's balance of payments, as for its economy
as a whole, were uncertain.
* * *
Relatively few book-length studies exist on the Ecuadorian
economy. The most comprehensive introduction to the subject can be
found in David W. Schodt's Ecuador: An Andean Enigma. Luis
Mendoza's Geo-Economía del Ecuador offers an excellent,
although dated, examination of national economic issues. Specific
economic data may be drawn from the Economist Intelligence Unit's
quarterly Country Profile: Ecuador and the annual reports of
Ecuador's Central Bank. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of 1989
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