In the best of cases, production could be increased to 610,000 barrels per day in 2025, which is still far from the million barrels announced by the authorities

On May 24, 2021, the government of Lenín Moreno officially ended and give way to that of Guillermo Lasso. Although his 4 years as President have ended, the results of Moreno’s policies on the country’s economic indicators have consequences that will last for months — perhaps years. It was not a surprise. In April 2020, at the […]

We’ve been having work done on our little guest house. And by little, I mean about 300 square feet. So, nothing to brag about. But I can say that it is finally a house. When we bought our property, the little house was even littler, about 200 square feet. And the walls were not really […]

The Ministry of Public Health reported 1,077 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 nationwide : 650 remain stable and 427 with a reserved prognosis. The Ministry has not updated the hospitalization figures in the last nine days. In a statement, he explained that they are restructuring the information system.    Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: Updated […]

The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office has opened preliminary proceedings against the far-right presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori for a “crime against the right to vote in the form of disruption or impediment to the electoral process.” Fujimori has other open cases for corruption and irregular financing of her campaign. The investigation is based on the presentation of 760 […]

The new oil policy, proposed by the government of Guillermo Lasso, through decree 95, proposes a renegotiation and free and voluntary migration of the current Service contracts to Participation contracts and opens the debate on the legal channels and the possible interest that it could generate in some oil companies to accept the changes. According to the proposal, the new Participation contract (which […]

Leonidas Iza Salazar, the new president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Conaie) stresses that his first mission is to promote the resolutions of the groups of the movement, especially, to seek dialogue with the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, and that the executive decrees that allowed the release of fuel prices be repealed. He […]

Bank profits showed an improvement in the first half of 2021 compared to the results obtained in the first six months of the previous year. Thru last June, the country’s large banks made about $107 million in profits; medium banks, about $68 million and small ones lost $2.42 million. The net income of the banking system […]

All travelers whose point of origin, stopover or transit is India or Brazil, must now present a negative result of a PCR test carried out 72 hours before embarking to Ecuador. And, even with a negative test result, they must go into isolation for ten (10) days and report if they have symptoms compatible with Covid-19. This is a […]

The bilateral relationship between Ecuador and the United States will be further strengthened under the current government of Guillermo Lasso, says Michael Fitzpatrick, US ambassador to the country. He says that the dialogues will be deepened to close a commercial agreement and that agreements to improve drug trafficking control are also a priority. Fitzpatrick adds that they […]

  With caution, we are happy to report that there were some very positive changes over the last week. However, there are two indicators that still raise concern and may mean a worsening of the situation in the coming week. First, the good news. New Covid-19 deaths fell by 40% this week, going from 230 […]

Sometimes I just have nothing to say. When it happens, it reminds me of Andy Rooney. He used to do his opinion piece at the end of every 60 Minutes episode. And one episode in particular stands out to me, the piece he did on a paper clip. I mean, he REALLY had nothing to […]

Last Monday, the Constitutional Court sent the notice to the Assembly to endorse and send the Reform Law to the Tax Code to the Official Registry

The 58-year-old and was elected by an absolute majority. The 155 candidates who will draft the new Constitution of Chile this Sunday elected Elisa Loncon, an indigenous woman, to preside over the body that will create the new fundamental law, which will replace the current one, inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990). Loncon […]

It took then-president Jamil Mahuad Witt, and his team, almost five months to assemble a stable three-legged platform, solid enough to give the exchange system and announce the dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy, on January 9, 2000. This is how he relates it in his book How We Dollarize Ecuador. Memories of a historical success in Latin […]

Update to: Companies and workers propose five ways out of unemployment in Ecuador Published: Volume 4, issue 45 With 6.3%, May had the highest unemployment rate of the year May was the worst month of the year in terms of unemployment in Ecuador. This indicator stood at 6.3%, a higher figure than that registered in January […]

Not surprisingly, as we get farther out from the lifting of national restrictions, some of the numbers we follow have been getting worse. This week we saw an increase in the percent of tests returning positive, an increase in the percentage of new cases, and an increase in the number of hospitalized patients. On a […]

A World Bank report estimates that 4.7 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are no longer in the middle class The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic caused 4.7 million people from the middle class to move into vulnerability or poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a new World Bank report, “The Gradual […]

108° in Portland? Really? Hottest day EVER in Portland. Other cities across the US broke heat records last week (while Colorado had snow in the higher elevations). And here in Azuay, we recorded colder temperatures than normal.  What is going on? Oh, wait! It’s that ‘climate change’ thing we used to talk about. You remember, […]

Last week, the Ambassador of Ecuador to the United States, Ivonne Baki, signed an Agreement to enter the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The ICSID is a space for the resolution of investment conflicts at the international level. Upon signature, Ecuador becomes the 164th state to sign the Convention, but it has yet to be […]