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Ecuador (continued) Flag: three horizontal bands of yellow (top, double width), blue, and red with the coat of arms superimposed at the center of the flag; similar to the flag of Colombia which is shorter and does not bear a coat of arms

Economy

Overview: Ecuador continues to recover from a 1986 drop in international oil prices and a major earthquake in 1987 that interrupted oil exports for six months and forced Ecuador to suspend foreign debt payments. In 1988-89 oil exports recovered accounting for nearly half of Ecuador's total export revenues and Quito resumed full interest payments on its official debt, and partial payments on its commercial debt. The Borja administration has pursued austere economic policies that have helped reduce inflation and restore international reserves. Ecuador was granted an IMF standby agreement worth $135 million in 1989, and Quito will seek to reschedule its foreign commercial debt in 1990.

GDP: $9.8 billion, per capita $935; real growth rate 0.5% (1989)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 54% (1989)

Unemployment rate: 14.3% (1988)

Budget: revenues $2.2 billion; expenditures $2.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $601 million (1988 est.)

Exports: $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—petroleum 47%, coffee, bananas, cocoa products, shrimp, fish products; partners—US 58%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC countries

Imports: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities—transport equipment, vehicles, machinery, chemical, petroleum; partners—US 28%, Latin America, Caribbean, EC, Japan

External debt: $10.9 billion (1989)

Industrial production: growth rate 0.7% (1988)

Electricity: 1,953,000 kW capacity; 5,725 million kWh produced, 560 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: food processing, textiles, chemicals, fishing, timber, petroleum

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 foodgrain, dairy products, and sugar

Illicit drugs: relatively small 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

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $457 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $1.4 billion; Communist countries (1970-88), $64 million

Currency: sucre (plural—sucres); 1 sucre (S/) = 100 centavos

Exchange rates: sucres (S/) per US$1—526.35 (1989), 301.61 (1988), 170.46 (1987), 122.78 (1986), 69.56 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Communications

Railroads: 965 km total; all 1.067-meter-gauge single track

Highways: 28,000 km total; 3,600 km paved, 17,400 km gravel and improved earth, 7,000 km unimproved earth

Inland waterways: 1,500 km

Pipelines: crude oil, 800 km; refined products, 1,358 km

Ports: Guayaquil, Manta, Puerto Bolivar, Esmeraldas

Merchant marine: 47 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 340,446 GRT/492,670 DWT; includes 1 passenger, 7 cargo, 17 refrigerated cargo, 2 container, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 16 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 1 chemical tanker, 1 liquefied gas, 1 bulk

Civil air: 44 major transport aircraft

Airports: 179 total, 178 usable; 43 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways over 3,659 m; 6 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: domestic facilities generally adequate; 318,000 telephones; stations—272 AM, no FM, 33 TV, 39 shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station

Defense Forces

Branches: Ecuadorean Army (Ejercito Ecuatoriano), Ecuadorean Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana), Ecuadorean Navy (Armada Ecuatoriana)

Military manpower: males 15-49, 2,635,543; 1,786,068 fit for military service; 114,976 reach military age (20) annually

Defense expenditures: 1% of GDP, or $100 million (1988 est.)  Egypt



Geography

Total area: 1,001,450 km²; land area: 995,450 km²

Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of New Mexico

Land boundaries: 2,689 km total; Gaza Strip 11, Israel 255 km, Libya 1,150 km, Sudan 1,273 km

Coastline: 2,450 km

Maritime claims:
 * Contiguous zone: 24 nm
 * Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation
 * Extended economic zone: undefined
 * Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: Administrative Boundary and international boundary with Sudan

Climate: desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters

Terrain: vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta

Natural resources: crude oil, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc

Land use: 3% arable land; 2% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; NEGL% forest and woodland; 95% other; includes 5% irrigated

Environment: Nile is only perennial water source; increasing soil salinization below Aswan High Dam; hot, driving windstorm called khamsin occurs in spring; water pollution; desertification

Note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez Canal, shortest sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean; size and juxtaposition to Israel establish its major role in Middle Eastern geopolitics

People

Population: 54,705,746 (July 1990), growth rate 2.5% (1990) 