According to Pabel Muñoz, director of Ecuador’s National Secretariat of Planning and Development (Senplades), poverty indicators in the country have recorded a significant decrease of 12 points in the last seven years, and shown the highest rate of investment in Latin America during the period.

Muñoz stated that Ecuador’s achievements are a result of a political decision and that a change in perspective would bring instability.

He commented that Ecuador has the highest investment rate in Latin America, with 15% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) funding roads, health centers, schools and hospitals.

"We received the country with a poverty index of 37.5 % and we reduced it to 25.5 % in 2013. The message is that in this period [seven years] we reduced poverty by 12 points. Meanwhile the Gini index, which measures inequality, fell from 0.55 to 0.47, that is to say it fell eight points," he said.

Muñoz added, "Important decisions have been made in public policy. We have prioritized the payment of the social debt over the external; successfully renegotiated oil contracts; returned to the country idle capital which the financial sector held abroad and invested it in national production. These are political decisions directed toward paying the social debt and productive investment."

Furthermore, he stated, "Reducing poverty is the government’s first priority, the second is changing the systems of production, a process which is advancing, primarily due to the establishment of structural conditions to stimulate the production sector and we are also changing the energy system."