The Executive Director of the CDC, Danilo Perez, pointed out that, “although national inflation has decreased, the prices of the 135 goods and services that make up the Consumer Price Index are still high, with inflation at 12% which has increased five points in two years”.

In addition, the Executive Director added that, in march 2024, cumulative inflation was 23%, resulting in an increase of US$55 in the basic urban basket and US$43 in the rural basket.

In addition, 22 basic food basket items have not decreased in price and continue to increase, despite the reduction in year-over-year inflation. For this reason, the CDC proposes to increase the minimum wage to US$456.

It should be noted that the last increase was in 2021, and since then, the cost of living has increased considerably.  For that reason, Danilo Perez proposes a 25% increase for the commerce and services sector, which would represent an increase of US$96, and an increase of US$60.86 for the agricultural sector.

For the elimination of VAT, the CDC recommends focusing on residential electricity bills, since El Salvador has the highest price per Megawatt per Hour (MWH) in the region.

Translated by: A.M