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An emerging mining jurisdiction with strong government support and significant foreign investment rapidly growing momentum
Ecuador is situated along the northwest coast of South America. Situated on the equator, from which its name is derived, it borders Colombia to the north, Peru to the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Ecuador straddles the Andes mountains and the Amazon basin. Ecuador’s capital and second largest city is Quito, which is in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. It is the second-highest capital city with an elevation of 2,850 meters. Ecuador’s largest city is Guayaquil, located on the coast in the Guayas Province.
Ecuador covers an area of 283,561 km² and is divided into 24 provinces. comprising four main geographic regions:
Ecuador has a population of 17.8 million people (2021). Approximately 63% of the population is urban. The median age is 28. Spoken languages are Spanish and Quechua (both official). The main religion is Christian (Roman Catholic). The national currency is the US dollar which was adopted in April 2000.
Ecuador has a developing economy that is highly dependent on commodities, namely petroleum, minerals (copper and gold) and agricultural products, with the Mirador copper mine being the top contributor to Ecuador’s economy in taxes paid in 2023, read more here These are the 10 companies that contributed the most in Ecuador, according to the SRI | Economy | News | The Universe (eluniverso.com)
The country is classified as an upper-middle-income country. Ecuador’s economy is the eighth largest in Latin America.
Ecuador has negotiated bilateral treaties with other countries, besides belonging to the Andean Community of Nations, and an associate member of Mercosur. It also serves on the World Trade Organization (WTO), in addition to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean and other multilateral agencies. In April 2007, Ecuador paid off its debt to the IMF, thus ending an era of interventionism of the Agency in the country. The public finance of Ecuador consists of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), the National Development Bank (BNF), the State Bank.
Ecuador is a republic and maintains a presidential, unicameral representative democracy with the usual three branches of power: executive (government), legislative (national assembly), and judicial (judiciary). The President is both head of state and head of government. The national assembly has the power to pass laws. The supreme court is independent of the executive and legislative branches.
In October 2023, centrist candidate Daniel Noboa won the premature presidential election with 52.3% of the vote against leftist candidate Luisa González. On 23 November 2023, Noboa was sworn in as President.
In January 2024, Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” against organised crime, and in March 2024 President Noboa attended the PDAC mining convention declaring the Ecuadorian government’s full support and protection of foreign investment in mineral exploration and mining in Ecuador in an effort to accelerate and incentive the mining industry.
