El Conquistqdor Francisco de Orellana

El Conquistqdor Francisco de Orellana
The Conquistador who put the Amazaon baisn "on the map"....Francisco Orellana

Monday, November 4, 2013

Ecuador Grows at Fastest Pace in One Year as Oil Output Rises




Ecuador’s economy in the second quarter grew at the fastest pace in a year as increased consumer spending and crude output offset slowdowns in construction and retail.

Gross domestic product rose 1.2 percent from the previous quarter, its fastest pace since the second quarter of 2012, the central bank said today in a report on its website. The economy expanded 3.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, unchanged from the prior three months.

Ecuador, an OPEC nation that relies on oil exports for about a third of its budgeted revenue, boosted crude output as investments in new technology at so-called mature oil wells came online, the bank said. The increase helped the government finance public spending and drive economic growth, said Francisco Briones, an analyst at the Guayaquil-based economic and political research company Inteligencia Estrategica.

Oil revenues “directly affect growth by affecting government revenue and hence government spending,” Briones, who forecast an expansion of 3.5 percent in the second quarter from the prior year, said in an e-mailed response to questions before the data was released. “A large part of public spending is channeled to road construction, infrastructure and mortgage lending.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nathan Gill in Quito at ngill4@bloomberg.net
 
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andre Soliani at asoliani@bloomberg.net

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