As of today, the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE) is making the Foreign Trade Price Indices available to the public, analysts, the productive sector, academia, and the media—a statistical tool that strengthens the measurement of the external sector and improves the analysis of the country’s exports and imports.
The new indices are aligned with international best practices and standards for the preparation of economic statistics. Their incorporation will make it possible to more precisely measure the evolution of Ecuador’s foreign trade and to strengthen key indicators used in the National Accounts and in the analysis of the national economy.
They are available on the BCE website:
The Foreign Trade Price Indices are statistical indicators that reflect the evolution of the prices of goods that Ecuador trades with the rest of the world. Through these indices, it is possible to track how the prices of the products the country exports and imports change. Their main purpose is to serve as adjustment factors for price variations in the estimation of volume and real-term indicators.
The new methodology moves away from calculations based exclusively on unit values derived from metric tons, which could generate distortions by grouping together products with different characteristics and technological levels. Instead, it incorporates a classification that allows for the comparison of homogeneous products and a more precise measurement of the evolution of prices and traded quantities.
The indices use 2024 as the base year, with a reference value of 100. Thus, an index of 105 indicates that prices are 5% above the average recorded in that year.
In addition, the report includes monthly series of the price, volume, and value indices, as well as the monthly, cumulative, and year-over-year variations of the price index for strategic export products.
