Ecuadorian state owned petroleum company Petroecuador posted a net profit of $2.28 billion for 2005, rising 13.1% year-on-year, local media reported yesterday.
Revenue totaled $5.3 billion, while costs totaled $2.947 billion
Revenue from crude oil exports reached $2.3 billion. jumping 41.9%. In terms of volume, the crude oil exports totaled 53.6 million barrels.
Petroecuador is the fifth largest crude oil producer in Latin America and the largest corporation in Ecuador.
Petroleum is Ecuador's main export item and budget revenue source.
The Colombian jobless rate stood at 13.4% in January 2006, up slightly from 13.2% in January 2005, the national statistics institute said yesterday.
The active population totaled 20.5 million in Colombia in January 2006, out of a total population of 44.9 million. The number of unemployed in Colombia stood at 2.7 million in January 2006, a 2.8% increase. The number of underemployed totaled 5.8 million in the first month of 2006, a 2.4% rise. The underemployment rate stood at 28.4% in January 2006.
The urban unemployment rate in the 13 major cities in the country stood at 16%.