Ecuador suffers blackouts amid water crisis and power shortfall

Ecuador's electricity system faces a severe supply crisis due to a prolonged drought and low water levels in the reservoirs of its large dams, according to El Comercio, which reported in its October 23, 2026 edition.

This reliance on hydroelectric generation leaves the country with little capacity to respond when climatic conditions reduce the flow of the rivers that feed the plants, forcing turbines to shut down and prompting a shift to thermoelectric plants that run on imported diesel and face maintenance problems.

On the macroeconomic front, Ecuador's real gross domestic product (GDP) has shown pronounced ups and downs, contracting -1.9% in 2024 and rebounding 3.7% in 2025, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, after growing 1.8% in 2023.

Looking ahead, IMF projections put real GDP growth at 2.5% for both 2026 and 2027, figures that are estimates rather than closed data for the national economy.

Image: President of the Republic of Ecuador, first uploaded by Denelson83 as Flag of Ecuador.svg, modifications by Husunqu, Zscout370 · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons