Gustavo Noboa, the president who dollarized the …

Former Ecuadorian President Gustavo Noboa died on Tuesday at the age of 83 in Miami, United States, where he was hospitalized a week ago after undergoing surgery for a brain tumor. Noboa ruled Ecuador between 2000 and 2003 and applied the most transcendent measure for the Andean country so far this century: dollarization of the economy.

“Gustavo Noboa Bejarano has passed away, an honorable and responsible president who has led the country successfully through very difficult times, a youth coach like no other,” former vice president Alberto Dahik and personal friend announced on Twitter. of the former president.

Lawyer and teacher, and great-great-grandson of President Diego Noboa, took over as vice-president from Jamil Mahuad in August 1998. A year and a half later, Mahuad is fired, declared by Congress before Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez’s coup. It was January 22, 2000. Noboa completed the constitutional period until January 15, 2003, when he was replaced by former coup leader elected Gutiérrez.

During his tenure, Noboa was in charge of dollarization enforcement in Ecuador. This measure had been decreed by Mahuad before the serious economic crisis that the country is going through. Sugar was no longer the country’s currency.

The bank holiday and the freezing of accounts in March 1999 were the prelude to this: the country is going through the worst economic crisis in its history and sugar is depreciating day by day. On January 9, 2000, Mahuad decided to dollarize. The measure was applied by Noboa after Mahuad’s fall and over time inflation dropped drastically and GDP numbers improved.

However, it had a high social cost. For starters, when deposits were frozen, the dollar was trading at 5,000 sugars. Then the exchange rate multiplied by five when access to accounts was released. Wages, pensions and savings suffered, while the export sector and those with dollar debts benefited, which were reduced. To date, Ecuador pays the costs of this economic measure.