IMF projects 2.5 percent growth in 2018 and 2.2 percent in 2019 for Ecuador

The IMF improves by 1.9 points the estimate it made for the Ecuadorian economy last October for 2018, when it predicted a GDP growth for this country of 0.6 percent, far from the estimated 2.5 now.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Ecuador's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 2.5 percent this year and 2.2 percent in 2019, according to its latest report from the World Economic Outlook.

The IMF improves by 1.9 points the estimate it made for the Ecuadorian economy last October for 2018, when it predicted a GDP growth for this country of 0.6 percent, far from the estimated 2.5 now.

The new forecast is two tenths lower than the 2.7 percent growth achieved by the Andean country in 2017, according to IMF calculations, although the Central Bank of Ecuador indicated in March that the national economy advanced 3 percent last year in terms real.

The report of the International Monetary Fund also calculates an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent for this year and a similar figure for 2019, slightly lower than the 4.6 percent of 2017.

The IMF forecasts confirm the good evolution of the Ecuadorian economy and contrast with the fall of 1.5 percent GDP that registered in 2016, one of its worst years of the last decade, due to low oil prices and the devastating earthquake that ravaged the north coast of the country on April 16 of that year.

A few days ago, the Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, announced a new plan for economic stabilization and development, aimed at reducing the significant weight of external debt in public finances.

This plan also seeks to reduce the fiscal deficit, which currently reaches 5.64 percent, to 2.47 percent in 2021, through greater efficiency in tax collection, the fight against fraud, better financing conditions and the reduction of public spending.

The Government of Ecuador also wants to improve the balance of payments through better control of foreign exchange, which guarantees the dollarization in force since 2000, but with the application of a support program determined to national production and the attraction of private investments.

That is why, a few weeks ago, the Ecuadorian government opened its portfolio of investments in the energy, mining and industrial areas, for some 14,000 million dollars, to financial agents from various countries of the world such as China, Japan, United States, Canada. , Switzerland, Spain, Australia, Russia, Chile, United Kingdom and Germany.