Ecuador, Peru Compared

Ecuador has had its difficulties with socialist President Correa. About this and many other things in Latin America, Andres Oppenheimer writes knowledgeably from his base at the Miami Herald. 

Oppenheimer compares the economic performance of Ecuador and Peru and finds Peru has done much better over the past decade or so. This is logical as Peruvian governments have trusted markets and private enterprise much more than those of Ecuador.

While Ecuador’s economy grew by an annual average of 3.4 percent between the start of Correa’s term in 2007 and 2014, Peru’s economy grew by an annual average of 5.6 percent, according to United Nations figures.

The gap would be even wider — in Peru’s favor — if the figures included the past two years, during which Ecuador’s economy took a sharp downturn because of the fall in oil prices. The World Bank is projecting that Ecuador’s economy will fall by 2.9 percent this year, the region’s worst economic performance after Venezuela.

More importantly, Peru did much better than Ecuador in reducing poverty in recent years. While Ecuador has reduced poverty by 30 percent since 2007, Peru reduced poverty by 69 percent over the same period, according to U.N. figures cited by the XPSecurities brokerage firm.

The results of the election to replace Correa are still up in the air. Oppenheimer appears to think a victory by opposition party candidate Guillermo Lasso is likely.