ECUADOR | Decent but could be better. The director of Ecuador’s central bank, Guillermo Abellán, announced on 31 March that the country’s economy expanded by 4.2% in 2021, surpassing the projected annual growth figure of 3.55%. Household consumption grew by 10.2% in 2021 on the previous year. However, the construction sector, which makes up 58% of total national investment, declined by 6.6%, the third consecutive year of contraction. Abellán announced an increase in the 2022 GDP growth forecast from 2.55% to 2.8%, but he cautioned that more private investment was necessary to drive growth. Abellán said that GDP growth could reach as much as 4.04% in 2022 with greater local and foreign investment. “We cannot postpone this if we want to reach higher levels of growth, create employment, and combat poverty,” Abellán said. Exports totalled US$19.45bn in 2021, contracting by 0.1% on the previous year, due to a decline in coffee, banana, cacao, and oil sales, which were affected by pipeline damage in late 2021. But non-oil exports, such as shrimp, fish, cut flowers, and mining surged to record levels. Imports increased by 13.2% year-on-year to US$20.64bn.
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