The president, who is serving his second consecutive term, expressed anger at rising food prices.
Nayib BukelePresident of The Saviorcharged this Saturday against the food importersduring a meeting with his cabinet broadcast on a national radio and television channel.
“I am going to call on food importers, traders and wholesalers to stop abusing the Salvadoran people or else not complain later,” the president said. He added: “I hope that tomorrow food prices will be lower than they are now (…) I hope for lower prices or they will have problems.
He also stressed that ”importers, wholesalers and food marketers who are committing these abuses, with the confidence that there is no criminal penalty for abusing, They are accused of tax evasion, bribery, smuggling food, false statements, and these (practices) are criminal.”
”Everyone is marked and you know it. You know the crimes you have committed“It won’t be a fine for the increase in food prices that we are going to impose. Don’t complain later, I hope that tomorrow food prices will be lower than they are now,” he added.
Bukele: ”Stop abusing”
In addition, along with his warning, he recalled his actions against gang members, making it clear that he will fulfill what he promises: “It’s not a joke, as we told the gangs in 2019 and they realized it was not a joke. Importers, marketers, distributors and wholesalers of food Stop abusing, there are increases that are not justified but because of a rumor they raise the prices to double is an abuse”.
The rural basket of the Central American country was in US$179.08 for May 2024while the basic urban food in the US$256.56 in the same month.
As for the minimum wage, the highest is in the area of commerce and service, with US$365followed by the maquila sector with US$354.36 And then there are the agricultural workers, who range from US$243.45 and US$272.66.
Source: Ambito
