ECUADOR

The General Manager of the Ecuadorian Central Bank (ECB), Verónica Artola, announced that they will present the National Assembly with a bill to give the ECB freedom of action when managing national reserves to provide stability to the national financial system. The bill is expected to be presented in September.

Artola indicated that it is important for the ECB to be able to manage the liquidity of the economy and achieve sustainability in the balance of payments. The bill will also allow the ECB to establish interest rate policies in order to record higher foreign exchange earnings. The idea is for the ECB to be a “reliable third party” when it comes to analyzing the economic situation.

The State Constitution establishes that the ECB is the instrument used by the Government to channel the formulation of monetary, credit, exchange rate and financial policies. The official added that “the recovery of autonomy is essential for the Central Bank to be able to perform technical and independent management and to contribute to maintaining the dollarization system in force in the country since 2000.”

Likewise, the Central Bank emitted a communication indicating that the Annual National Accounts will be presented on Friday, December 27, 2019. Similarly, at the end of March 2020, the ECB will present the Quarterly National Accounts, with the quarterly aggregation providing revised GDP figures as well as the provisional data of 2019.