In the presidential debate of the first round, it was very difficult to compare the concrete proposals of the seven candidates present, but for the second round we will have only two candidates to compare. What are the main concerns of Ecuadorians?

One is security, which is a very complex issue. However, measures could certainly be taken to improve some key points such as border control, prisons and ports.

The economy is another concern mainly related to growth, which leads to job creation and poverty reduction. For many years, Ecuador had mediocre growth rates. Between 2000 and 2006, GDP per capita grew at an average rate of 2.4%, and between 2007 and 2017 we saw that growth slow, falling to an average of 1.6% — despite the oil boom and the increase in debt during the latter periods. Between 2018 and 2022, we fell into negative territory with an average of -1.24%.

Read the latest news about the elections in Ecuador

Dollarization reduces the cost of populism, but does not prevent it entirely, as we see in the decline in growth in the years of the Civil Revolution and the years of fiscal crisis that followed. Although this was inherited from the Republic of Croatia, the administrations that succeeded it did not adopt structural reforms to attack the root of the problem: the political class spends beyond its means, sacrificing freedom and prosperity. By not addressing the issue of overspending, we perpetuate an inefficient government structure, as many of the treasury’s scarce resources continue to be squandered by waste and corruption.

(…) we emphasized the importance of moving towards greater trade opening…

From the Freedom and Prosperity Forum of the Ecuadorian Institute of Economics and Politics (IEEP), we discussed ideas for solving the main problems that we believe are holding back growth, job creation and poverty reduction in the country. We presented some ideas on how to solve the crisis in the pension system, which was also done, and in much more detail, by the Inter-Institutional Commission convened by the Government. This committee proposed concrete reforms and in the right direction to make the current system a little more sustainable.

We also emphasized the need to reduce public spending in order to reduce the tax burden and make the economy more attractive for investments. We also believe that labor reform is necessary to encourage employment in the modern economy. Finally, we emphasized the importance of moving towards greater trade opening and a model of financial integration, similar to the model of Panama or Singapore.

When evaluating candidates, we suggest some axes: (1) what measures do you plan to take during your government to improve the security situation?; (2) What is the size of the country that you consider ideal? And what is your tax reform proposal? (3) what barriers would you remove to make job creation more flexible and encourage it?; (4) will you work to make the negotiated free trade agreements a reality?; (5) what do you propose regarding the immediate social security crisis?; (6) we all want a greater supply of loans at lower rates, how do you propose to achieve this? (OR)

Errata

Editor’s note: In the newspaper edition of this Friday, August 24, the name of the author of this article was mistakenly published as “Gustavo Calderón de Burgos”, when the correct word is “Gabriela Calderón de Burgos”.

We apologize to the author and the public for this error.