Determinants of the External Public Debt in Ecuador. Period 1990-2020

Abstract

External public debt represents external resources that governments use to offset their fiscal deficits. The research aims to identify the determinants of external public debt in Ecuador between 1990 and 2020 using the ARDL methodology, which is ideal for analyzing the short- and long-term relationships between variables with limited data. The results of the study indicate that, in the short term, lagging debt, trade openness, inflation, and lagging inflation are significant, while in the long term, national savings, government spending, and oil prices are significant.