Summary 2021: There are signs of reactivation in sales and investments in Ecuador

Ecuador is heading towards a reactivation, although at medium speed, of its productive sectors.

A sign of this spirit, palpable until mid-December in the Local Sales Analysis carried out by the Quito Chamber of Commerce (CCQ), is the increase in sales nationwide. Commerce, transportation and manufacturing industries are among the winning sectors.

In the first ten months of the year, a value of $ 124,895 million is sold nationwide. The amount is 19% higher than that registered during the same period in 2020, year in which only $ 104,585 million were registered.

Nine provinces They are the ones that promote this good performance and even already exceed what was achieved in 2019: Guayas, Santa Elena, Santo Domingo, Manabí, Los Ríos, El Oro, Zamora Chinchipe, Bolívar and Sucumbíos.

Nine provinces reach sales amounts higher than those of 2019

This element has been the thermometer that has made it possible to measure that the capacity of household consumption and that the demand they are recovering in a scenario in which the pandemic continues. The good performance of the trade, in addition, is derived from the massive vaccination campaign, which rebounds in the middle of the year, and which allows families to have more certainty and security of going out to consume in warehouses, restaurants, hotels and businesses in general .

Although the COVID-19 pandemic generates a strong economic blow in the country and maintains its lags until 2021, the reactivation of demand, which was depressed by the lack of liquidity in families, allows companies to decide to invest and open new businesses.

An example is the opening of the new domestic airline Equair. The company, which will cover several routes, will operate from January.

Another indicator is the signing of investment contracts that as of November total $ 2,158 million in acquired commitments and a projection of 5,864 new jobs. Those companies that sign the commitments benefit from the tax incentives considered in the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investments (Copci) and the complementary regulations that govern the country.

The main destinations of new investments They are to expand plants, develop other production lines, modernize factories and build spaces to process products for export.

Between the new contracts approved There is also the assembly of plants for the manufacture of animal feed and the installation of poultry farms; the acquisition of machinery for productive repowering.

Likewise, the mining sector, which registers a accelerated growth in the last year, signs contracts for the development of a metallic mining project linked to gold, silver and copper. This item, until October, presents a 29% increase in sales, according to the CCQ.

Sacha, Sopladora, refinery on the coast, among the large projects of the $ 30,833 million portfolio presented by the Ecuador Open for Business

In November, the Government holds the international forum Ecuador Open for Business attended by investors from all over the world and in which the portfolio of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and delegated management, which includes 50 public projects. The event announces the creation of a Technical Secretariat for Public-Private Partnerships and delegated management, whose owner is Roberto Salas; and a single investment window that will operate from 2022. (I)