The decisions that marked the country in 2021

These have been the news that have marked the year that ends:

Change of government

The right-wing Guillermo Lasso, leader of the Creando Oportunidades (Creo) movement, defeated Andrés Arauz, akin to the former president, with more than 419,000 votes in Ecuador’s presidential elections. Rafael Correa (2007-2017).

Lasso obtained about 4.7 million votes (52.36%), while Arauz – who had triumphed in the first electoral round on February 7 – obtained about 4.2 million votes (47.64%). Lasso replaced Lenin Moreno (2017-2021) who came to power with the support of strap, from which he later distanced himself, and who is a follower of the so-called XXI Century Socialism.

Vaccination plan

Vaccination against Covid-19 began with several organizational problems on January 21 during the administration of Lenin Moreno. With greater access to vaccines and better organization, inoculation was the priority of Lasso At the beginning of his administration, which, as of December 24, had in its records more than 27.1 million doses applied, including first, second and booster doses.

On December 23 the government determined the mandatory nature of the vaccine as a preventive measure against a possible worsening of the situation due to the omicron variant and the increase in infections.

In mid December, Lasso rreceived an oxygen cylinder in the investigation of the case of the Pandora papers, with the closing of the file by the Comptroller and the braking in the Parliament to two motions against him for those documents, one of them for his dismissal.

The Comptroller considered that there were no “objective elements that demonstrate” violation of the law when Lasso registered his candidacy, endorsing the president’s allegation that he had disposed of them in the face of the elections, in compliance with a 2017 law. A complaint remains open of the former presidential candidate Yaku perez so that the Prosecutor iFind out the fiscal and patrimonial past of the President.

Economic measures and social protests

Faced with a series of social protests, the government decided to suspend the gradual increase in fuel, which had been in force since the administration of Dark, This was not enough for some social movements demanding a “freeze.”

Lasso declared as a “national priority” the granting of social interest loans at 1% annual interest and a 30-year term and at the end of the year announced an increase of 25 dollars -as of 2022- for those who earn the basic salary, a decision considered as “Politics” by employers, who fear problems for the generation of new jobs.

Economic Development Law

The president of Ecuador put into effect the Economic Development and Sustainability Law Fiscal, which contains a series of fiscal reforms and seeks a collection of 1,900 million dollars in the next biennium.

The fiscal supplement was required for future disbursements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as the continuity of the amendments that Lasso agreed with the multilateral entity after coming to power last May.

International investment

Lasso announced the phasing out on Foreign Currency Outflow Tax (ISD) with four reductions of 0.25 percentage point per quarter in 2022. With the reduction of a quarter of a percentage point per quarter as of January, it will be lowered at a rate of 4% at the end of 2022.

For Lasso, the decision will contribute to attracting investment, in addition to actions already undertaken such as the promotion of the event «Ecuador Open For Business«, In which the country presented a portfolio of nearly 30,000 million dollars of potential investment projects in strategic sectors.

Oil losses

In his first months in office, Lasso announced that he aspired to double the country’s oil production in four years, but the activity was affected by problems with the transportation of crude oil.

Ecuador lost more than $ 500 million due to the suspension of the pumping of oil through its pipelines since the Amazon due to natural erosion in an area of ​​the Coca River, which also forced it to import fuel. Oil is the main export product of the Andean country and its sale finances an important part of the national budget, around 30%.

Environment

The president of Ecuador offered at COP26 the creation of a new marine reserve of 60,000 square kilometers in the Galapagos Islands in exchange for the “largest debt-for-conservation swap made in the world” and explained that his government is studying “some proposals”, but is also analyzing other forms of financing.

The new marine reserve would add to the “more than 130,000 square kilometers of its waters that are a protected marine reserve” and, furthermore, to the Galapagos National Park, which has “an area of ​​8,000 square kilometers and is considered by experts as the archipelago of volcanic origin in the best state of conservation in the world.”

The historic gold medals at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games in weightlifting (76 kilograms) with Neisi Dajomes (23 years old), and with the road cyclist, Richard Carapaz (28 years old), became the most important news for Ecuador in 2021, since Jefferson Pérez won the first gold in the 20-kilometer march at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Selection of Ecuador it also stole the attention of Ecuadorians, remaining practically throughout the year in third place in the South American qualifiers for the Qatar World Cup 2022 and closed 2021 with 23 points, after Brazil and Argentina.

To close a year, Ecuador was ranked seventh in the overall medal table of the I Pan American Games Junior from Cali at the beginning of December, and was fourth at the South American level, after Brazil, Colombia and Argentina.