Foods and vegetables are getting costlier in El Salvador, affecting inflation levels and raising alarms about a further price acceleration. According to numbers of the Reserve Central Bank (BCR) numbers, the Salvadoran basic goods basket, a group of foods and vegetables considered essential, has reached over $260, breaking historic highs in June.
The basket price registered an all-time high of $262.17, with an increase of $5.61 over May’s price. The increase is derived from the hike in the cost of vegetables, which experienced a rise of up to 233% in just twelve days.
While prices have been going up since 2021, according to the Consumer Defense Center director Danilo Perez, there is no explanation for this brutal hike in less than a month. He stated:
Someone here, very powerful and with a lot of protection, is profiting in a very advantageous way, is taking advantage of the needs of the Salvadorans.
This development has alarmed the national government, which has advanced a series of sometimes unpopular initiatives to control this increase. These include removing import duties on over 100 products to make them available at lower prices and extending Farmers’ Markets, government-sponsored stores that offer lower prices for some vegetables.
President Nayib Bukele personally issued an ultimatum on food importers and distributors, blaming them for rising prices with no justification, and threatening to apply harsher measures against them.
It remains to be seen if these measures will achieve their goal of lowering prices this month.
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