The 100 days of quarantine leave $ 5807 million of losses in commerce across the country. The Federation of Ecuador’s Chambers of Commerce does not yet have a broken business figure, but reports that some have problems to continue operating due to low demand.
2020 did not start well. There were slight contractions in production in the first months that with the quarantine – decreed on March 17 due to the spread of the coronavirus – accelerated and in March sales fell by 21.4% and in April the drop was 45, 6 %. This is data from the Central Bank that details the Weekly Analysis .
Since February the production volume in all the sectors analyzed has contracted. In April, trade fell more (-38.5%) in relation to the previous month; industry (-27.1%), services (-23%), construction (16.5%).
The Ministry of Production and Foreign Trade calculated a loss of profit – that is, the losses of the companies due to not being able to sell – of $ 12 billion in just two months of confinement. Starting in May, companies were reactivating with online sales and home delivery and reopening their doors once cities like Guayaquil went from red to yellow. May’s expectations were to start to float, but there are no official figures yet.
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