A basket of 10 basic products costs $ 31.34 in the country. In the region, the average cost is $ 28.58
A worker on Ecuador, taking into account both formal and informal, receives a entry $ 309 average monthly. That income is the fifth highest in the region; but his purchasing power is the lowest.
A minimum basket from 10 basic products It costs $ 31.34 in the country. That is, with the average income you can buy up to a maximum of 9.86 of these baskets per month.
On Colombia, with a salary average of $ 302.8, you can purchase 14.28 of the minimum baskets. For its part, in Peru, $ 381.51 per month reaches 12.98.
The 10 products included in the measurement are: 1 liter of milk, 500 grams of bread, 1 kg of rice, 12 eggs, 1kg of cheese, 1 kg of chicken, 1 kg of meat, 1 kg of fruit, 1 kg of vegetables and 1 kg of potato.
The country with the highest income is Uruguay. A worker receives an average of $ 643.51 per month, which is used to buy almost 15 minimum baskets. Second is chili, which with $ 520.8 per month, allows a purchasing power of 13.64 of that set of goods.
Ecuador became expensive in the correista decade
Between 2007 and 2017, inflation in the country it averaged more than 4% per year. In the same period, the price level in USA went up by less than 2%.
Ana María Verdesoto, an economist, explained that the explosion of the public spending created a bubble of consumption in those years; but it was not accompanied by policies and measures to increase productivity and make the business and agricultural sector more efficient.
“Much was spent, but inefficiently from the State. As the economy had more money circulating, but national production did not cover all the demand of goods, the imports and the government He took the opportunity to put more tariffs on them ”, he pointed out.
The result is that the local market was distorted with prices higher and higher until the bubble burst. From 2018 to 2020, the country experienced the opposite phenomenon, that is, the inflation it averaged -0.1%.
“Without the public push to demand, and with an industry that is not very productive and generates employment, economic activity collapsed and prices began to adjust to the reality of the country,” said Verdesoto.
Cheap fuels hide inefficiencies
The consequences of inefficiencies accumulated over the years have yet to be solved. The elimination of subsidy to the fuels It sought to make part of the production costs transparent.
The gasoline cheap have caused, especially in the agricultural sector, that the productivity nor technological development. What’s more, they did not prevent price escalation for most of the last 15 years.
If the State guarantees artificially low costs, and at the same time artificially high sales prices, there is no incentive for improvement.
Currently, the average income of an Ecuadorian worker is enough to buy 163 gallons of diesel ($ 1.90 per gallon). That number is the highest in the entire region.
Even in countries with incomes up to 108% higher such as Uruguay and Chile, a maximum of 148 and 150 gallons of this fuel can be purchased. (JS)
