A part of the long-dissolved state of Gran Colombia, liberated from Spanish rule under the command of Simon Bolivar, Ecuador is a country closely associated with its geographical location as its capital city, Quito, is only one quarter of a degree south of the equator that cuts the Earth in half horizontally. Initially of Incan Empire and later of the Spanish, Ecuadorian people reflect the diversity inherited from both cultures in the composition of its citizens. Not only that but Ecuador also basks in being among the 17 megadiverse countries in the world which translates as covering an area that is home to the majority of Earth’s species with a relatively high number of endemic ones as well.
What Type of Economy Does Ecuador Have?
Categorically a developing economy, Ecuador is one of the South American countries like Bolivia highly dependent on its commodities to bring up wealth. Latin America’s eighth biggest economy exports petroleum that makes up 40% of its total annually that helps it maintain a positive trade balance. A decade ago, they still possessed more than 6.5 billion barrels of reserves to be extracted, processed and distributed worldwide. In spite of the fact that they rank as an upper-middle-income country, the extreme poverty levels were as high as 40% in the beginning of the millennium. However, those figures shrank by more than 30% a decade later, partially owing to the fact that the US Dollar was adopted as the currency instead of the Ecuadorian Sucre in 2000 that was very prone to volatility and unstable inflation.
Ecuador Economy Facts
Easily distinguishable with certain brands as well, Ecuador also is the world leader in banana production and export as well as flowers and cocoa. Sugarcane, cassava, rice, coffee, potatoes also are in the list that complete an approximately 30% of export block of agricultural products. Guayaquil is the workhorse of the industry in the country which is followed by the capital city of Quito and to an extent by Cuenca. In recent years, the megadiverse nature has been promoted by the governments to boost tourism as an income source in the Ecuadorian economy as well.
Payment Methods in Ecuador
Ecuador is a thriving habitat of digitized payments which can be further proven by the recent news of major credit card issuers within the country regulated by its central bank that has made arrangements with online payment solutions in Ecuador conglomerates to provide its customers in Ecuador ewallet to accept payments in Ecuador. Additionally, main online payment options in Ecuador include PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Western Union.
The country is also relatively lucky to be attracting more fintech companies from around the world compared to some other countries of Latin America. Other than the handful of payment solution providers serving the whole continent, there are extra options from new competitors in the industry for businesses looking to work with Ecuador payment gateways. Since the country’s internet penetration stands at 71% of the population where the e-commerce market is expected to hit 1.6 billion USD this year, payment methods in Ecuador need to be diversified more to reach the population of which 60% uses banking services.
