Introduction

With Mahuad, Ecuador suffered the worst economic and social crisis in its history

The Ecuadorians were marked by the freezing of deposits, bank bailout, the death of the sucre and dollarization.

Alquillo functions on August 10, 1998, the citizenship placed its hope in its new president, the former mayor of Quito Jamil Mahuad, prepared at Harvard to govern the country, but the time took him to Mahuad, because it did not help him to fulfill promises: build a government of national unity to give the economy and the promotion of programs to reduce poverty and misery, in addition to the normalization of international relations.

One month after his duties, he devalued the sucre and increased electricity, gas and gas tariffs. The reaction was not expected and began public protests and pardons.

With the signing of peace with Peru, on October 26, calm returned to the country, but the economic situation remained in critical condition. Excessive inflation and the fall in production caused many banks to go bankrupt, the sucre weakened and a high trade and balance of payments deficit arose, in addition to the flight of capital.

The holiday and the freezing of banks, since March 8, 1999, caused serious problems in the country. Once the policies of banking assistance were established, on March 8, 1999, banks closed their doors for 5 days, by order of the Superintendency of Banks. The accounts were frozen and 11 establishments were intervened; In addition, they initiated the first legal actions against some corrupt bankers.

The bank bailout cost the country around $ 8.6 billion, inflation went up, there was devaluation, loans were given to banks, the recession was unleashed, unemployment and people's desperation increased, which caused more migration to Spain.

Due to the seriousness of the situation, on Sunday, January 9, 2000, Mahuad announced the dollarization of the economy. President Mahuad had completely lost control and on January 21, 2000, he was overthrown.