Lassoing Ecuador Back In: A New Era for Ecuador

Ecuador is facing a new political landscape after the presidential inauguration of Guillermo Lasso on May 24, 2021. These elections marked an end to a 15-year government regime led by the correismo movement. The election of Lasso represents a new political and economic era for Ecuador, but the policy shift will not be as seismic as some may think thanks to the prior presidency of Lenin Moreno.

On May 24 Guillermo Lasso from the Creando Oportunidades (CREO) political party assumed the presidency of Ecuador. His election represents a new political and economic era for the country as it is the first time in 15 years that a right-wing conservative candidate will hold the presidential office. Prior to Lasso’s election, Rafael Correa from the socialist and populist party, Alianza País (AP), served as president of Ecuador for 10 years (2007-2017).¹

In 2017, Correa endorsed his vice-president, Lenin Moreno, to run in the 2017 presidential elections. Moreno was elected to the presidency and it appeared that the correismo regime would continue to dominate Ecuadorean politics.²

Nevertheless, the policies implemented during Moreno’s term in office differed markedly from those of Correa. Moreno changed the direction of policy by removing authoritarian and populist measures implemented by the previous administration. For example, and importantly for the economy, he issued a decree which eliminated subsidies on premium gasoline and diesel to improve the national debt.³ Moreover, he commenced negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and achieved external debt relief for Ecuador.⁴

Footnotes:

1: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-38980926

2: https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/04/01/actualidad/1491081329_699004.html

3: https://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2019/10/09/5d9cd3a4fdddff97378b4570.html

4: https://elpais.com/economia/2020-08-03/ecuador-logra-un-alivio-de-su-deuda-externa-de-1540-millones-de-dolares-y-cinco-anos-de-gracia.html