This study provides a general analysis of economic relations between Spain, as a donor of
official development assistance (ODA), and Ecuador, as a partner and recipient of development
aid. It seeks to assess the potential (in)coherence between Spain’s foreign economic activities and
the goals of development and poverty reduction that the Spanish government established for its
relations with developing countries. Hence, the study's main aim is to determine whether the
Spanish government as a whole (and not just Spanish co-operation) is coherent with Ecuador’s
development and thus coherent with Spain’s policies on international development co-operation.
We therefore analyse the links between the two countries through trade, international
remittances, foreign direct investment (FDI) and external debt, from a development point of
view.
The secondary aim is to offer recommendations to help make Spain’s activities more
coherent with development. One main challenge that arises is the lack of an institutional
framework for a wider set of relations between the two countries. Although there is an
institutional basis for international assistance acitivites, it does not cover other economic
activities such as trade or investment projects. As a result, incoherences appear, such as the
approval of ODA trade credit lines that are eliminated in debt cancellation agreements a few
years later.
Coherence of Development Policies
Ecuador's Economic Ties with Spain and their Development Impact
Working paper
OECD Development Centre Working Papers
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Abstract
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4 October 2021