Análisis Sectorial: Panorama de la Inversión Empresarial en el Ecuador 2013-2017

Worldwide, 2017 meant a year of slight recovery for business investment. Ecuador, however, had a complex environment for the activation of this investment, due to the impact of the economic decline in 2016 caused by a decrease in oil pricesand the appreciation of the US dollar. The present documentshows a general overview of business investment during the period 2013-2017 through a descriptive analysis of investments made by companies such as new constitutionsof businessesand companies’ domiciliation, as well as capital increaseof existing companies belonging to different sectors of the Ecuadorianeconomy. Finally, we analyzethe Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)that took place in Ecuadorduring this period, since thisis an important component ofbusinessinvestment. We find that, on average, 41.5% of total business investment during the 2012-2017 period corresponds to FDI. Although in 2017Ecuador had difficulties in attracting FDI with respect to 2016, year in whichcorporate investment coming from abroad was mainly directed tothe Mining and oil exploitation sector,in 2017, the Manufacturing Sector played a greater role and became the sector that received most of theFDI (27%).On the other hand, we find that,though in 2017 business investmentwaslower than in 2016, it washigher than in 2013, when the economy was in an expansion phase.