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QUITO, Jan. 17-- The Ecuadoran economy suffered about 821 million U.S. dollars in losses due to the protests that occurred in October 2019, the general manager of the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE), Veronica Artola, announced on Friday. The protests grew out of the government's announcement of its plan to eliminate fuel subsidies, a measure which was subsequently abolished. Artola stated that of the total losses, about 120 million U.S. dollars was lost due to damage to infrastructure, and the other 701 million U.S. dollars was economic losses. The productive sector was the most affected, with losses of about 465 million U.S. dollars, or 56.7 percent of the total. During October's protests, main streets and highways were blocked in cities throughout the country, impeding the free flow of goods. Artola said that the losses would be equivalent to 173,000 families not receiving a basic income for the entire year or no tourist entering the country for six months. The official added that the losses had a negative impact on the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019, with growth for that year now predicted to be -0.08 percent. Before the protests, the BCE estimated that Ecuador's GDP would grow 0.1 percent in 2019. | 
