Summary 2021: There are signs of reactivation in sales and investments in Ecuador

In 2021, the country is moving towards the economic recovery, which is shown in a greater amount of sales, more investments and new lines of business.

Ecuador is heading towards areactivation, although at medium speed, of its productive sectors.

A sign of this spirit, palpable until mid-December in the Local Sales Analysis carried out by theQuito Chamber of Commerce (CCQ), is the increase in sales nationwide. Commerce, transportation and manufacturing industries are among the winning sectors.

In the first ten months of the year, a value of $ 124,895 million is sold nationwide. The amount is 19% higher than that registered during the same period in 2020, year in which only $ 104,585 million were registered.

Nine provincesThey are the ones that promote this good performance and even already exceed what was achieved in 2019: Guayas, Santa Elena, Santo Domingo, Manabí, Los Ríos, El Oro, Zamora Chinchipe, Bolívar and Sucumbíos.

This element has been the thermometer that has made it possible to measure that the capacity ofhousehold consumptionand thatthe demandthey are recovering in a scenario in which the pandemic continues. The good performance of the trade, in addition, is derived from the massive vaccination campaign, which rebounds in the middle of the year, and which allows families to have more certainty and security of going out to consume in warehouses, restaurants, hotels and businesses in general .

Although the COVID-19 pandemicgenerates a strong economic blow in the country and maintains its lags until 2021, the reactivation of demand, which was depressed by the lack of liquidity in families, allows companies to decide to invest and open new businesses.

An example is the opening of thenew domestic airline Equair. The company, which will cover several routes, will operate from January.

Another indicator is thesigning of investment contracts that as of November total $ 2,158 millionin acquired commitments and a projection of 5,864 new jobs. Those companies that sign the commitments benefit from the tax incentives considered in the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investments (Copci) and the complementary regulations that govern the country.

Themain destinations of new investmentsThey are to expand plants, develop other production lines, modernize factories and build spaces to process products for export.

Betweenthe new contracts approvedThere is also the assembly of plants for the manufacture of animal feed and the installation of poultry farms; the acquisition of machinery for productive repowering.

Likewise, the mining sector, which registers aaccelerated growth in the last year, signs contracts for the development of a metallic mining project linked to gold, silver and copper. This item, until October, presents a29% increase in sales, according to the CCQ.

In November, the Government holds the international forum Ecuador Open for Business attended by investors from all over the world and in which the portfolio of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and delegated management, which includes 50 public projects. The event announces the creation of a Technical Secretariat for Public-Private Partnerships and delegated management, whose owner is Roberto Salas; and a single investment window that will operate from 2022.