Ecuador

Ecuador is an upper-middle-income Andean economy dependent on oil exports, agriculture, and remittances, which adopted the US dollar in 2000 after a financial crisis.

Oil is the leading export, and bananas and shrimp are major earners, but Ecuador has been rocked in recent years by a dramatic surge in drug-trafficking violence that has made it one of the region's most dangerous countries.

Key Sectors

Key sectors include oil, agriculture and aquaculture (Ecuador is a top exporter of bananas and shrimp), flowers, remittances, and tourism, including the Galapagos Islands.