- Implementation Support Agency (ISA): World Bank
- Total project financing: $514.1 million
- Funding from GCFF: $14.1 million
- GCFF Financing Approval Date: 10/27/2020
- Project Closing Date: 12/31/2022
- % Disbursed: 100%
- Status: Closed
About the project
This is the final operation in a programmatic series of three. The priority areas identified during the design of the DPF series remained critical to recover from the crisis and to continue supporting Ecuador’s transition towards a sustainable and inclusive growth model in the post-pandemic period. These priority areas were grouped into two pillars, one to remove barriers to private sector development (Pillar 2) and one to promote public sector efficiency and fiscal sustainability post-crisis (Pillar 3). This third operation maintains this structure, with Pillar 1 supporting measures that help to alleviate the impact of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable households and those made unemployed, as well as special measures to protect vulnerable refugees. As in DPF-2, Pillars 2 and 3 support significant structural reforms that will contribute to longer-lasting growth-enhancing change in Ecuador. These are discussed in detail in this document. Special considerations are given to climate change and natural resource management, including through fiscal risk management, energy price controls and subsidies, and transparency in natural resource management. This operation provides critical financing to Ecuador in a context of deep crisis.
Project Development Objective (PDO)
This DPF series supports measures aimed at: i) responding to COVID-19 to protect the vulnerable; ii) removing barriers to the private sector and supporting the economic recovery; iii) promoting public sector efficiency and fiscal sustainability post-crisis.
Project Implementation Status
(As of December 31, 2022)
- As of July 2019, more than 80 percent of the people who entered the country were registered by an officer, but 54 percent of those who resided were in an irregular situation. In response to this situation, the government took an important step to integrate Venezuelan migrants into Ecuadorian society. On July 25, 2019, the government approved the Executive Decree 826 that gathered information of migrants (Migrant Census) and created a humanitarian visa to regularize Venezuelans was applied between August 2019 through March 2020, however due to the pandemic was further extended through August 2020. Accordingly, this DPF supported Ecuador in proactively managing the integration of large inflows of Venezuelan migrants providing a legal and strategic framework which delineates roles and responsibilities across government entities for integrating refugees and migrants in a sustainable manner.
- The visa process, operationalized via the Ministerial Agreement No. 103, that created the exceptional visa for humanitarian reasons (VERHU), was designed to benefit Venezuelan citizens including an amnesty, exempting them of fines for migratory irregularity (i.e. exceeding their stay limits in Ecuadorian territory).
- The visa application process was a multi-step that started virtually and was finalized in person. Already targeting migrants that had completed their registry, the final number of visas issued was 57,608, 37% higher than the original target of visas, which was 42,000. The process was aided by financial support to the cost of visa issuing, partnerships with international partners (such as OIM and UNHCR), as well as the pre-clearance of requirements that the registry allowed.
Relevant Documents: