He Banco Central del Ecuador (BCE) was awarded the International Award for Initiative of the Year at the Central Bank Awards. This award recognizes the institution’s recent innovative efforts for its Gold Marketing program, which seeks to promote the formalization of small and artisanal miners, promote environmental best practices and provide access to financing on better terms.

The Central Banking Awards recognize the excellence of central banking-related institutions around the world that have faced significant operational challenges, public policy, technological change and environmental transition. Awarded institutions stand out for significant improvements in management, work, communications, economy, infrastructure and other relevant contributions to society.

In October 2022. The Central Bank of Ecuador, together with BanEcuador, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Energy and Mining signed a cooperation agreement in order to “promote the legal and sustainable development of this activity, through rigorous certification processes for small and artisanal Ecuadorian miners and the granting of financial incentives through BanEcuador.”

In this way, BCE complies with the provisions of Article 36 of the Monetary and Financial Organic Code and Article 49 of the Law on Mining, which establishes as one of the institution’s functions the acquisition of non-monetary gold from small-scale mining and artisanal mining on the national market.

As part of this program, the Central Bank of Ecuador has successfully completed the refining and certification process 80,850.7 troy ounces of non-monetary gold, which enabled the inclusion of certified gold bars in the international reserve (IR) of Ecuador, the value of which, on the day of registration, was 157.9 million dollars.

He The Director General of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Guillermo Avellán, He thanked for the recognition and stated that the Gold Marketing Program has been strengthened to guarantee compliance with local environmental regulations, through coordinated work with various public entities involved in the mining sector. He also pointed out that “this international recognition represents a turning point in terms of the institutionality and transparency of the ECB, which promotes the strengthening of dollarization and formalization of the mining sector.”