Economy

Ecuador's economy has heavily depended on exporting resources such as petroleum, fish, shrimp, timber and gold. In addition, it has rich agriculture: bananas, flowers, coffee, cacao, sugar, tropical fruits, palm oil, palm hearts, rice, roses, and corn.[30] The country´s greatest national export is crude oil.[31] Fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented to servicing the domestic market, with some exports to the Andean Community of Nations.Deteriorating economic performance in 1997–98 culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in 1999. The crisis was precipitated by the El Niño weather phenomenon in 1997, a sharp drop in global oil prices in 1997–98, and international emerging market instability in 1997–98. These factors resulted in a 7.3% contraction of GDP, annual year-on-year inflation of 52.2%, and a 65% devaluation of the national currency, the Sucre, in 1999, which helped precipitate a default on external loans later that year. In January 2000, President Jamil Mahuad announced a policy to adopt the U.S. dollar as the official currency of Ecuador, and although Mahuad was forced from office, his successor Gustavo Noboa continued with the plan, and also entered into negotiations with the IMF.

referencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador