Ecuador Budget Execution Reaches 47%

The Ministry of Finance building in Quito, seen in a January 2017 file photo. (Photo: Agencia de Noticias ANDES, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

ECUADOR · PUBLIC FINANCE

Ecuador budget execution reached 47.02% in the first half of 2026, an Assembly committee confirmed on Friday 16 October 2026. The state accrued US$22.47 billion of a US$47.80 billion budget between January and June.

Ecuador uses the US dollar, so this is a dollar budget that bondholders, contractors and lenders can read directly. Spending below half of the plan at mid-year matters because roads, hospitals and school programmes are paid from it.

Expreso, a Guayaquil outlet, covered the vote on Saturday 17 October and again on Sunday 18 October. The first report added the opposition’s objections, and the second added the US$25.32 billion not accrued by June.

We covered the president’s promise of a public-works push in Ecuador’s Noboa Plans a Public-Works Spree From September. The half-year report covers the months before that push was due to begin.

How Ecuador Budget Execution Reached 47%

The Assembly’s Economic Regime and Taxation Committee approved the report with six votes, the Assembly’s press office said. The document covers the General State Budget, known by its Spanish initials PGE, for January to June 2026.

The report puts accrued spending at US$22.47 billion against a codified budget of US$47.80 billion at 30 June. Codified means the budget as modified during the year, and accrued, called devengado in Ecuador, counts obligations the state has recognised, which is not always cash paid out.

Expreso put the share not accrued by June at 52.98%, or US$25.32 billion. That means the state had used less than half of its planned funds at the midpoint of the year.

The committee is chaired by Nathaly Farinango of the governing ADN party, and the governing majority carried the vote. The opposition Citizen Revolution party, known as RC, voted against.

Andrea Sánchez, the Budget Undersecretary, had presented the same 47.02% to the committee on Friday 25 September, the Assembly said. She spoke for the Ministry of Economic Development and Production, which sent the data.

Investment and Social Spending Lag

The Annual Investment Plan, the list of the state’s public works and programmes, reached 39.56% across 422 projects. Social spending ran lower, at 35.27% of its codified budget.

The institutional axis led at 52.28% across 32 projects, and the social axis reached 41.71% across 284 projects. The risk axis stood at 35.93% across seven projects.

The economic axis reached 28.03% across 34 projects, and the environment axis was lowest at 26.64% across 71 projects. Expreso noted that both stayed below 30% at the end of the half-year.

The committee recommended that the state guarantee the delivery of resources and prioritise vulnerable groups, especially in health and education. It also asked that the report go to the Presidency of the Assembly.

Legislators raised concerns about spending levels in several areas, particularly health, and about checking the figures. At a hearing on Monday 12 October, the Health Ministry said it had spent 43.8% of its financed resources by 30 June.

The ministry gave a total codified budget of US$5.51 billion, with US$864 million accrued on staff. Medicines and medical devices took US$94 million, and dialysis took US$80 million.

Which Institutions Spent the Most

The Infrastructure and Technology Ministry led with 68.60%, followed by the Environment and Energy Ministry at 58.69%. The Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility Ministry reached 47.85%.

The Human Development Ministry stood at 45.77% and the National Police at 45.54%. Three of these five institutions sat above the overall 47.02%, and two sat below it.

Resources for local governments came to US$3.86 billion, of which US$1.54 billion, or 39.90%, had been accrued by 30 June. The Assembly press office recorded those figures from the 25 September presentation.

How the Half-Year Pace Compares

Sánchez told the committee that the 47.02% is higher than in each of the last three years. The ministry gave 42.90% for 2025, 42.10% for 2024 and 42.96% for 2023.

The Assembly approved the 2026 budget on Saturday 29 November 2025 with 78 votes in favour, 66 against and four abstentions, Primicias reported. That original budget totalled about US$46.3 billion, and the codified figure has since risen to US$47.80 billion.

The sources do not explain what added about US$1.5 billion to the budget during the year. A larger total also makes any given percentage harder to reach.

Opposition Questions the Data

Liliana Durán, an RC Assembly member, criticised the absence of ministers who had been summoned to defend their budgets. She said the Constitution obliges ministers to appear before the legislature, Expreso reported.

Durán also said the figures presented would correspond to September 2026 rather than to January to June, which she argued distorts the result. The Assembly’s note on the 25 September presentation dated the figures at 30 June 2026.

She said she had sent six formal information requests to ministries without a reply, and that most of the higher spending went to repaying debt principal. These are her claims, and the sources reviewed show no government response.

The budget approved in November 2025 set aside about US$8.35 billion to repay debt principal, Primicias reported. Debt payments are therefore part of the plan, though the sources do not show how much of the half-year spending they took.

What It Means for You

US investors in Ecuadorian bonds can use the execution rate as one check on how fast the state turns borrowed and collected money into projects. The debt side is set out in Ecuador’s Public Debt Hits 65.7% of the Economy.

Contractors and suppliers bidding for public works face a state that had accrued less than 40% of its investment plan by June. The Environment and Energy Ministry accrued 58.69% of its budget, while the environment investment axis stood at 26.64%, so results differ by programme.

Residents and visitors feel the budget through hospitals, schools and the power supply, and blackouts continued in October, as we covered in Ecuador Blackouts Hit Homes Despite Pledge. For background on the country, see our guide Ecuador Explained: The Country, the Security Crisis, the Economy and What to Watch.

What Is Not Known

The full committee report was not available for this article, so the figures rest on the Assembly’s press office and Expreso, which agree on every number. The report’s own methodology notes were not reviewed.

The sources do not say why the codified budget grew by about US$1.5 billion since November 2025. They also do not say how much of the unspent US$25.32 billion is debt service or is already committed.

It is not known whether the second half will close the gap, because the half-year report gives no year-end forecast. The ministry has not publicly answered the opposition’s data challenge in the sources reviewed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ecuador budget execution?

It measures how much of the money in the budget the state has spent, here counted as accrued spending against the codified budget. For January to June 2026 the rate was 47.02%.

How much did Ecuador spend in the first half of 2026?

The state accrued US$22.47 billion of a US$47.80 billion codified budget. That leaves US$25.32 billion not accrued by June.

Which areas spent the least?

The environment investment axis was lowest at 26.64%, followed by the economic axis at 28.03%. Social spending reached 35.27% of its codified budget.

Is 47% better than in earlier years?

The Budget Undersecretary said it is higher than the 42.90% of 2025, 42.10% of 2024 and 42.96% of 2023. Those comparisons come from the ministry’s own presentation.

Who approved the report?

The Assembly’s Economic Regime and Taxation Committee approved it with six votes on Friday 16 October 2026. The opposition RC voted against, Expreso said.

What does it mean for US readers?

Ecuador’s budget is in US dollars, so investors can compare it directly with debt and growth figures. Slow investment spending is a risk to watch, not a verdict on the economy.

Sources: Asamblea Nacional, committee approves budget execution report, 16 October 2026; Asamblea Nacional, Economic Regime Committee analyses January to June execution, 25 September 2026; Asamblea Nacional, ministries detail first-half execution, 12 October 2026; Expreso, 18 October 2026; Expreso, 17 October 2026; Primicias, 29 November 2025.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error