RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ecuador in 2021 increased up to 51% annual oil exports and considerably improved those of shrimp, in addition to increasing income from coffee, tuna, fish, and flowers, which are among its main sales products, informed the Central Bank (BCE).
The South American country, whose dollarized economy depends on crude oil, increased oil sales by 51%, from US$4.7 billion in 2020 to US$7.1 billion between January and November 2021, according to the most recent report of the entity.
On its side, shrimp exports rose 24%, from US$3.8 billion to US$4.8 billion.
The Ecuadorian president, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, recently celebrated that his country became last year the first world producer of the crustacean, with one million tons harvested.
Between these periods, exports of flowers also increased by 2% (from US$827 million to US$844 million), fish by 5% (from US$252 million to US$265 million), tuna by 8% (from US$63 million to US$68 million) and coffee by 4% (from US$9 million to US$13 million).
Ecuador, with 17.7 million inhabitants, is facing an economic crisis aggravated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.