Lasso gets poor ratings after first year in office; Trade agreement with Chile goes into effect, Negotiations for Mexican deal almost complete

Martes, 24/5/2022

Hola, Todos –

Titular –

Vacunas, inversiones y matanzas (Vaccines, investments and slaughter) – See the Tuesday afternoon edition of CHL for story on Pres. Lasso’s first year. Disapproval ratings for the president are high. 71.18% of Ecuadorians rate Lasso’s 1st year as bad. 66.08% considered the Plan de Vacunación against Covid his major work. 75-87% think he has managed the areas of security, education, health, public investment and employment badly. 79.6 think the situation in the country is bad and 66.71% think their personal situations are also bad. 63.29% think the situation in the country will not improve in the next six months. 36.45% think the main problem in the country is insecurity, 24.21% think it’s unemployment, and 16.18% think it’s the economic crisis. 90.92% think that prices for the products in the canasta basica (basic basket) have gone up while only 1.32% think they have gone down. 19.61% are inclined to vote for a referendum proposed by Lasso, 25% will vote against, and 55.26% are still thinking about it. <All in all, a pretty low approval rating.>

Empresarial –

Ecuador’s trade agreement with Chile is in effect while a deal with Mexico should be completed soon.

Ecuador cerca de Acuerdo Comercial con México (Ecuador close to trade agreement with Mexico) – A new round of in-person talks on a trade agreement between Ecuador and México will take place in Quito from 23-27/5. The Minister of Producción, Comercio Exterior, Inversiones y Pesca, Julio José Prado, said that this meeting will focus on market access, rules of origin, trade protection, services and institutional issues. The meeting also represents a decisive step in Ecuador joining the Alianza del Pacifico. There is much interest in deepening bilateral trade and in investments through this agreement. Currently, México is the 15 largest destination for Ecuadorian non-oil exports, and the 8th largest importer of non-oil goods. <I hope imports of sauces and seasonings starts to happen soon. I have no idea how to make Méxican sauces from scratch.> In the past years, México has been one of the main origins of direct foreign investments in Ecuador.

Acuerdo Comercial con Chile (Trade Agreement with Chile) – The Acuerdo Comercial entre Ecuador and Chile went into effect el 16/5. Products from Ecuador that will enter the Chilean market include superfoods such as quinua, amaranto y chía; fresh tropical fruit; supplies for the plastic industry; scrap and scrap metal; and canned fish such as horse mackerel, mackerel, and sardines. Other exports include canned palm hearts, vegetables, tubers, yuca, malanga (taro – our word for the day), choclo and mixed vegetables.

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne