The president of the Consumer Defense Office of El Salvador, Ricardo Salazar, recognized yesterday the effective management that the Dominican Republic has had to face the inflationary crisis that has impacted all the countries of the world.
The Salvadoran official said that this good management of the Dominican government “has allowed it to guarantee the supply and access to products of the basic food basket with the most controlled inflation in Central America and the Caribbean, followed by El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica”.
“At the regional level, it should be noted, for example, that in the Dominican Republic, they established a series of agreements with the private sector, which was a very enriching experience of dialogue in the midst of the crisis, which can be used as a reference by other nations,” he said.
Salazar, who spoke on the subject in the framework of a meeting of the heads of government agencies of the different countries that are part of the Central American Council for Consumer Protection (Concadeco) held in this nation, highlighted the interest that governments have, “in this case the Dominican government, to guarantee the supply and access of products”.
“In other countries in the region, such as Honduras and El Salvador, which have applied subsidy policies on fuel and other products that are used as raw materials for local production in each state, it has also been key to face the crisis”, he added.
He stated that the difficult economic situation that many countries in the world are going through has to do with the war between Russia and Ukraine, which directly affected oil products.
Salazar indicated that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a study in which it is revealed that 30% of the cost of food “is directly linked to the cost of oil derivatives”.
And secondly -he continued- , this is a supply crisis taking into account that Russia and Ukraine are the two main countries supplying fertilizers and other important products of the basic food basket, such as wheat and other derivatives for the entire food chain.
“We must recognize that our governments in the region have managed to manage inflation and thus cushion the impact of this crisis,” he said.
He pointed out that when government consumer protection agencies in Central America and the Dominican Republic compare the cost per unit of each product that makes up the basic food basket with countries of fundamental economic powers, such as the United States, England, Spain, Italy, and others, “this, without taking into account the purchasing power, these products have less cost in our region”.
He said that inflation rates were between 7% and 10% in Central America, “well below South American countries that exceeded 15 and 20%”.
The meeting, which will last until next Friday, will be attended, in addition to Salazar, by the executive director of the National Institute for the Protection of Consumer Rights (Pro Consumidor), Eddy Alcántara; the Director General of Consumer Protection of Honduras, Mario Castejón, as well as representatives of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Panama.
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