Government of Panama extends price control for six months
The extension that includes the adjustment of costs of 14 foods of the basic basket generates discomforts in the business sector
The price control of the products of the basic basket in Panama is becoming increasingly difficult to conclude because the list of products that are supposed to be subject to an adjustment in the cost has been extended since 2014, during the government by Juan Carlos Valera.
The list that previously added 22 basic products was reduced to 14, after some changes that were produced by the government in office chaired by Laurentino Cortizo, who said through an Executive Decree that the measure seeks to allow the Panamanian population to meet their feeding needs.
The reasons of the executive before the new extension are justified in a series of analyzes and reviews carried out where he ensures that “a possible deregulation does not generate an unjustified increase in the products considered of greater sensitivity”, as contemplated in the Decree published last Tuesday in official Gazette.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP in Spanish), one of the most powerful in the country, said on Wednesday that “price control does not work and creates distortions in the market,” and asked that it be “eliminated” as a step “towards the economic recovery” of the country.
The Chamber added that the measure “was implemented in the past government administration as a temporary and emergency campaign promise. However, it has remained for more than five years without showing true results.”
K. Villarroel
Source: eleconomist
