ECUADOR'S MILITARY STAYS FOCUSED ON COUNTERING DRUG TRAFFICKERS AND BORDER PROTECTION
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Ecuador's military is primarily used to counter drug traffickers and protect the country's border. To manage those threats, defense spending in Ecuador increased between 2008 and 2011. However, since 2012, defense spending growth has been inconsistent. The largest decline in defense spending came in 2015, when it declined 15.4 percent. Declines in 2013, 2015, and 2017 were counterbalanced by increases in 2014 and 2016. Much of the inconsistency can be explained by the government's difficulty raising financing due to the government's not participating in international financial markets.
Between 2017 and 2019, defense spending will remain flat. The budget is expected to decline by 0.4 percent in 2018 and increase by 0.3 percent in 2019. Peace deals between the Colombian government and the FARC rebel group will reduce incursions into Ecuadorian territory that have resulted from the conflict, so Ecuador will need less money to pay for its defense.
However, the primary reason for the flat spending growth is President Lenin Moreno's work to cut the national budget deficit. That work even threatens to reduce defense spending. However, the need to maintain a military against regional threats and support the population during natural disasters is important, so defense spending will remain flat.
Ecuador's defense budget will only begin to increase by larger amounts in 2021, when it will increase 1.6 percent from 2020. Between 2018 and 2023, defense spending will grow 1.1 percent.
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