Ecuador Location:
00°9'S, 78°21'W
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador (Spanish: República del Ecuador) is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands (Archipiélago de Colón) in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers (600 miles) west of the mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name, and has an area of 256,370 square kilometers (98,985 mi2). Its capital city is Quito; its largest city is Guayaquil.
Ecuador Geography:
Ecuador has three main geographic regions, plus an insular region in the Pacific Ocean:
La Costa, or the coast, comprises the low-lying littoral in the western part of the country, including the Pacific coastline.
La Sierra ("the highlands") is the high-altitude belt running north to south along the center of the country, its mountainous terrain dominated by the Andes mountain range.
El Oriente ("the east") comprises the Amazon rainforest areas in the eastern part of the country, accounting for just under half of the country's total surface area, though populated by under 5% of the population.
The Región Insular is the region comprising the Galápagos Islands, some 1,000 kilometers (620 mi) west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.
Ecuador's capital is Quito, and is located in the province of Pichincha in the Sierra region. Its largest city is Guayaquil, located in the province of Guayas in the Coast. Cotopaxi, which is located just south of Quito, in the neighbouring province of that same name, is one of the world's highest active volcanoes. Mount Chimborazo (6,310 meters) is considered to be the most distant point from the center of the Earth, given the ovoidal shape of the Earth, which is widest at the equator.
Ecuador People:
Population
- July 2005 estimate More than 13,850,000 (65th)
- Density 47 /km2 (147th)
122 /sq mi
Ecuador Government:
Government Republic
- President Rafael Correa
- Vice-President Lenín Moreno
Ecuador Communication:
Ecuador has a network of national highways maintained by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Comunicaciones (Ministry of Public Works and Communication) government agency [4]. The Pan-American Highway connects the northern and southern portions of the country as well as connecting Ecuador with Colombia to the north and Peru to the south. The quality of roads, even on trunk routes, is highly variable. There is an extensive network of inter city buses on these highways.
Ecuador Economy:
Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources and rich agricultural areas. Because the country exports primary products such as oil, bananas, flowers and shrimp, fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented to servicing the domestic market, and some exports to the Andean Common market. Deteriorating economic performance in 1997-98 culminated in a severe economic and financial crisis in 1999. The crisis was precipitated by a number of external shocks, including 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 highlighted the Government of Ecuador's unsustainable economic policy mix of large fiscal deficits and expansionary money policy and resulted in an 7.3% contraction of GDP, annual year-on-year inflation of 52.2% and a 65% devaluation of the national currency in 1999, which helped precipitate a default on external loans later that year.
On January 9, 2000, the administration of President Jamil Mahuad announced its intention to adopt the U.S. dollar as the official currency of Ecuador to address the ongoing economic crisis. The formal adoption of the dollar as currency on September 10, 2000, as opposed to pegging the local currency to it, as Argentina has done, theoretically meant that the benefits of seigniorage would accrue to the U.S. economy. Subsequent protest related to the economic and financial crises led to the removal of Mahuad from office and the elevation of Vice President Gustavo Noboa to the presidency.
However, the Noboa government confirmed its commitment to dollarize as the centerpiece of its economic recovery strategy. The government also entered into negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), culminating in the negotiation of a twelve-month stand-by arrangement with the Fund. Additional policy initiatives include efforts to reduce the government's fiscal deficit, implement structural reforms to strengthen the banking system and regain access to private capital markets.
Buoyed by high oil prices, the Ecuadorian economy experienced a modest recovery in 2000, with GDP rising 1.9%. However, 70% of the population was estimated to live below the poverty line that year, more than double the rate in 1995.
In April 2007, after winning a referendum on Constitutional reform, President Correa announced that he no longer intended that the country would make repayments to the IMF nor deal with the World Bank.
Ecuador More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecuador | 
