Central Bank proposes to boost foreign investment and exports

The Manager of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), Mateo Villalba, made a call to boost foreign direct investment, reduce the consumption of imported goods and increase exports to strengthen the dollarization.

“Stopping the consumption of Chilean apples can be made overnight. One can start consuming apples from Ambato. But to increase 30% of the export capacity in any productive area takes years,” the authority said during his appearance at the Committee on Economic Regime yesterday afternoon.

Villalba said that low oil prices and the appreciation of the dollar will have a negative impact on the balance of payments this year.

According to Villalba, the application of safeguards will help to alleviate the problem, but only in the short term, so he indicated that structural solutions to medium and long term should be worked.

Meanwhile, according to Ramiro Aguilar, Assemblyman from the Concertación Movement, the government should cut public spending by eliminating ministries and other institutions as an additional measure to face the problem of the balance of payments.