OECD Development Centre Working Papers
The OECD Development Centre links OECD members with developing and emerging economies and fosters debate and discussion to seek creative policy solutions to emerging global issues and development challenges. This series of working papers is intended to disseminate the OECD Development Centre’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned. These papers are generally available in the original English or French, with a summary in the other language.
- ISSN: 18151949 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151949
Coherence of Development Policies
Ecuador's Economic Ties with Spain and their Development Impact
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.
Keywords: Spain, aid, foreign debt, coherence, development, finance, trade, Ecuador
JEL:
O21: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Development Planning and Policy / Planning Models; Planning Policy;
F21: International Economics / International Factor Movements and International Business / International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements;
F24: International Economics / International Factor Movements and International Business / Remittances;
F35: International Economics / International Finance / Foreign Aid;
F34: International Economics / International Finance / International Lending and Debt Problems;
F14: International Economics / Trade / Empirical Studies of Trade;
O19: Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth / Economic Development / International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
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