ECUADOR: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE BANK HOLIDAY (MARCH 8-12, 1999)

The bank holiday was one of the five milestones of the Ecuadorian financial crisis of the final fiveyear period of the 20th century. The suspension of the financial services during March 8-12, 1999, provoked a general loss of confidence that led to the government decision of immobilization of all kind of private deposits in the financial system (the so called "freezing"). These events were not planned in a synchronized way; during that week, the government decisions were taken just as the events took place instead, day by day, without a script stablished in advance. The bank freezing analysis is nonsense without analyzing the neoliberal financial reform and the economic crisis that flew into dollarization.