Ecuador's economy has been struggling in recent years. In 1999 the national currency devalued by around 180 percent as inflation rates soared, leading to widespread civil unrest and, ultimately, a change of president. Soon afterwards, the Ecuadorian sucre was pegged to the dollar, which was subsequently adopted as the national currency, in an attempt to inject some stability into the economy. By then Ecuador was one of the continent's least expensive countries, though the cost of travelling will inevitably rise again following recent reforms.

One of the most significant early changes was the scrapping of fuel subsidies in July 2000, when economists predicted that related costs would be hiked by as much as half, with another round of increases coming in October 2000 that year. The view is that these increases will eventually be felt across the board, but the big unanswered questions are to what extent - and when