Is Correa responsible for an ‘Ecuadorian Miracle’? Yes and no, but luck and timing have been on his side

By Rob Cox

Turn on state television here, and within an hour or so a public service message will appear extolling the “Ecuadorian miracle” of President Rafael Correa. The advertisements highlight big new infrastructure projects and endorsements by experts, even an American or two.

Coming on one of the many formerly private channels that Correa tucked under government control during his seven years in office, it’s easy to dismiss this as propaganda. Yet here’s the thing: nearly every ordinary Ecuadorian I met during a recent stay was able to answer the Reaganesque question, “Are you better off now?” in the resounding affirmative.

To the amazement of Correa’s critics, Ecuador has undergone a relatively sustained period of economic progress since he took office in 2007. Annual growth in gross domestic product has averaged 4 percent. Unemployment is below 5 percent. Wages are up. Inflation is a tame 3.1 percent thanks to the dollarization of the economy before his accession. The percentage of Ecuador’s 16 million people living below the poverty line has dropped to 25 percent from some 45 percent before Correa became president.

The infrastructure improvements are evident everywhere, from the shiny new Quito airport and the highway that leads to the capital, to the 95 new bridges spanning the jungle chasms of the Amazon region. Regional hospitals are being built, and universal education has been made more accessible to everyone, its quality improving. Infant mortality rates shrink every year.

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