Abstract

AIMARA-NARANJO, Andrea Estefanía; URRUTIA-GUEVARA, Jeannette Amparito  and  LACH-TENECOTA, Wladimir. Fuel subsidies in the economy of Ecuador's gas stations. Noesis [online]. 2025, vol.7, n.esp1, pp.404-417.  Epub Nov 30, 2025. ISSN 2739-0365.  https://doi.org/10.35381/noesisin.v7i1.401.

Subsidies worldwide are used to strengthen social cohesion and economic development. In Ecuador, they cover various amounts and types, with fuel subsidies being particularly noteworthy. Although they were intended to alleviate costs, they became regressive and political instruments. The objective is to assess how these subsidies influence the sector's profitability. The study analyzes the impact of these subsidies on the economy of gas stations, highlighting the vulnerability of smaller stations that depend on narrow margins that are unviable if their monthly sales are low. It uses a qualitative-quantitative approach that explores and interprets previous studies, combining a review of research with numerical data and financial averages. The results indicate that the reduction in subsidies negatively affected the sector, doubling its resource needs. In conclusion, gas stations had to resort to external financing to address liquidity problems and maintain their public service obligation.

Keywords : Fuel; Economy; Gas stations; Strategic sector; Subsidies..

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