SAN SALVADOR.- He President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukelesanctioned a law yesterday that eliminates for a decade the duty of more than a hundred food products and agricultural inputs in order to combat the recent rise in prices, a measure that comes a few weeks after issuing warnings to companies linked to this sector about the existence of “cartels.”
“The president has approved the Special Law to Promote Competitiveness and Facilitate Access to Products in the Expanded Basic Basket. To encourage local and foreign competition, this law eliminates tariffs on 116 food products and agricultural inputs for ten years so that Salvadorans can purchase products at fairer prices,” reads a statement from the Salvadoran Presidency published on its account on the social network X.
For its part, Bukele said that the elimination of tariffs will also result in “more international competition” and “more local production.”
In addition to food, the law includes products such as fertilizers, manures or animal feed.
This measure is criticized by producers, economists and members of the opposition who consider that it will harm national production, since the Central African country imports 90% of its vegetables and fruits, as well as a large part of its cereals, oils, milk, meat, canned products and basic grains.
Weeks ago, Bukele warned merchants to stop “abusing” with price increases of basic products and threatened to apply the full force of the law to them as it has done with the gangs.
“I am going to make a call like the one we made to the gangs at the beginning of 2019, when we told them to stop killing or don’t complain later. Well, I am going to give a message to the importers, marketers, wholesalers and distributors of food: stop abusing the Salvadoran people or don’t complain later,” said the president in a national radio and television broadcast.
Authorities said they have identified abuses in the prices of basic products.
To try to alleviate the situation, the Ministry of Agriculture established so-called “agromarkets” in almost the entire country, where producers, without intermediaries, are selling at lower prices.
A basket is made up of foods that provide the minimum caloric requirement for a person to carry out an activity, such as dairy products, meats, eggs, beans, sugar, fats, bread or tortillas, rice, vegetables and fruits.
According to a state survey, the expanded basic food basket for a family of three in El Salvador costs $420.91, an increase of $31.86 compared to the cost in 2022.
Source: With information from AP
