ECONOMY
Ecuador economy is based on agriculture, fishing, and mining. The explotation and exporting of oil have played a dominant role in the country's economy since the early 1970s. Over the last century, economic development depended on the exports of first cocoa and the bananas, of which Ecuador was the world's largest exporter for several decades. Agricultural exports came mainly from the coastal lowlands.
The GNP per capita was $ 1,080 in 1988. It has grown in recent years at an average annual rate of nearly 2 percent. The inflation rate was 32.4% in 1987.