Análisis del comportamiento de la balanza comercial de Ecuador antes y durante la pandemia de la COVID-19 años : 2019 y 2020.

Abstract

Ecuador's gross domestic product fell by 7.8% in 2020 compared to the previous year, a situation that occurs parallel to the start of a global pandemic caused by the disease known as COVID-19, which brought with it uncertainty and speculation in all kinds of markets. To discover the impact this health emergency had on the country's foreign trade activity, which is related to variations of the GDP, a comparative analysis of the trade balance for the first half of 2020 versus 2019 is done, where the main fluctuations between tariff headings are pointed out and the fundamental causes of them are explained. The results show a strong reduction in both exports and imports in 2020, however and contrary to what could be assumed with these insights, the total sum of net exports was much higher in 2020 compared to that of 2019. This situation was due to a better equilibrium between the accounts that compound the trade balance, but not to an integral growth of the nation's foreign trade.