The Government looks at imports with different eyes

Ecuadornews:

As in the story, the ugly duckling turned out to be a beautiful swan, so the increase in imports has not been the ‘monster that destroyed the country’s economy’, as indicated before. It is one of the messages that the ministers of the Government of Lenin Moreno transmitted to hundreds of businessmen, who met in Guayaquil, at the Hilton Colón hotel.

“In the past it was heard that imports were enemies of the economy and dollarization. False! Imports are important for the merchant, for the production process, for manufacturing, for export. Imports have increased, yes, but of raw materials, capital goods, lubricants and cars. Cars are a work tool for some. That’s part of the dynamism of the economy, “said Commerce Minister Pablo Campana. He stressed that there is still a lot of work to be done to further increase exports and improve productivity and competitiveness.

The meeting also said that the Government is convinced that the productive sector is to take the baton for new investments and for this will not raise taxes and for this the Law of Productive Development was created and it is “tightening house in expenses”.

It was emphasized that the time has come to work in coordination, so that the productive sector is the one that dynamizes the economy, through new investments. Which will have legal security and predictability. In the Production Law one of the goals was to break the locks that stopped investments. It was revealed that many businessmen indicated that they expected to see the Law published in the Official Gazette and then they would say how much fresh money they could put.

It was recognized that the investments do not arrive from one day to another, but the steps have been taken so that they begin to walk towards Ecuador.

In terms of improving the environment for doing business, that is a task that is in the goals, especially in the ease of doing business, Ecuador is ranked 118 in the Ease of Doing Business ranking.

The Minister of Tourism and Finance, Carlos Larrea (e) and Richard Martínez, respectively, also attended the meeting.

Larrea stressed that investments in the tourism sector is important because for every 10 tourists that arrive in the country, employment is generated. The arrival of travelers grew in the first semester of this year by 14%, without counting the passage of Venezuelan migrants. More than $ 1,600 million is what is contributing tourism to the economy of the country and that is why there is interest in investing in this sector. In the last 15 months have reached about $ 200 million and it is expected that more money will arrive, because this is one of the sectors that will have a tax exemption up to 20 years, for new investments, according to the new Law.

The atmosphere of the meeting conveyed the idea of a feeling of compadres between authorities and businessmen. Thus they committed to unite to improve the economy of the country.

The popular economy triumphs

The companies of the Popular and Solidarity Economy (EPS) are successful in the world. In the first half of this year, exports of this sector rose 9.39%, from $ 162.33 million in 2017 to $ 177.57 million in 2018, according to Pro Ecuador.

Bananas and plantains were the sector with the highest representation, achieving 87.94% of total EPS exports. Other important sectors were cocoa and processed; flowers and plants; and agroindustry (quinoa, peanuts and medicinal herbs).

EPS products had 65 export destinations in the first six months of this year. (I)

Source:  https://www.expreso.ec/economia/importaciones-comercioexterior-economia-empresarios-BN2348047