Weekly Report - 02 December 2010 (WR-10-48)

ECUADOR | Budget approved. The legislative assembly has approved a US$23.95bn budget for 2011, up 13% on this year. The budget, which won the backing of 64 of the 116 deputies present, is based on a series of optimistic figures, such as economic growth of 5.1%, an oil price of US$73.3 per barrel and a tax take of US$9.5bn, nearly 40% up on 2009. Even in the unlikely event that all of these figures are met, there will still be the problem of financing a projected fiscal deficit of US$4.95bn. The opposition is also wary of the spending increases under the recently approved public finance law, which allows the government to increase the budget by up to 15% without the need to seek congressional approval [WR-10-44].

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