Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.50, Nicaragua $3.36, Honduras $3.24, El Salvador $2.82, Guatemala $2.82 and Panama $2.63.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador report:
The increase in fuel prices for this fortnight is because of production factors, according to the latest report provided by the IEA, gasoline reserves showed a weekly reduction of 1.5 million barrels, also distillates such as diesel decreased by 1.4 million barrels per week; these inventory reductions affect the tendency of prices to rise, because there are fewer gasoline and diesel reserves to supply the existing demand in the hydrocarbon market, which generates this effect in the international prices of oil derivatives.
In Costa Rica, the price indexes for buildings and social housing registered 2.8% and 1.9% year-on-year variations in the first month of the year, respectively.
From the statement of the National Institute of Statistics and Census:
The price indexes for construction based on February 2012 are a set of twenty statistical indicators, which measure the variation in the prices of materials used in the construction of different types of works.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.48, Nicaragua $3.28, Honduras $3.19, El Salvador $2.81, Guatemala $2.75 and Panama $2.56.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador report:
The increase in the reference prices for the current fortnight, according to the last two reports provided by the IEA, is because the reserves of gasoline and diesel show decreases in the last two weeks.
The right choice of the marketing system and the partners who will sell the product is key to compete profitably with other options with lower prices.
Ariel Baños, price management specialist and founder of Fijaciondeprecicios.com, explains how through proper marketing, it is possible to compete against the prices of companies manufacturing their products on a large scale and at lower cost, such as those made in China.
The consumer price index did not show any major changes in January, as it barely varied by 0.05% with respect to December, mainly because of the Transport and Education prices.
Of the 315 goods and services included in the consumption basket, 57% increased in price, 36% decreased in price and 7% showed no variation, informed the National Statistics and Census Institute.
In the first month of the year, the FAO food price index fell 2% from January 2018, because of the decline in the prices of meat, vegetable oils and sugar.
From FAO's monthly report:
The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 164.8 points in January 2019, up almost 3 points (1.8 percent) from December 2018 but still 3.7 points (2.2 percent) below the corresponding month last year.
The carrot strategy is to implement the right incentives for everyone to be committed to the same goal: the culture of profitability.
Ariel Baños, price management specialist and founder of Fijciondeprecios.com, explains how through the "carrot strategy", companies can move from the "culture of volume" to the "culture of profitability."
The carrot strategy is to implement the right incentives for everyone to be committed to the same goal: the "culture of profitability". It is not an easy path, since it can mean to say "no" to certain businesses contributing volume, but end up deteriorating the final results.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.64, Nicaragua $3.31, Honduras $3.17, El Salvador $2.78, Guatemala $2.73 and Panama $2.56.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador report:
The upward trend of the reference prices for the present fortnight, follows the agreement to reduce production by 1.2 million barrels per day by the member countries and non-members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that began on January 1, 2019, has reverted the downward behavior of the prices of all oil derivatives such as gasoline and diesel, a clear example of the firm compliance of such reduction is Saudi Arabia, the largest producer of the organization, which has assumed most of the reduction to 468,000 barrels per day, also at the end of December 2018 the organization had already reduced an approximate 750,000 barrels per day between crude oil and derivatives, which has impacted on international prices for 2019.
After reporting in December 2018 a 2.1% inflation, it is foreseen that this year the inflationary rhythm of the country could range between 2% and 2.6%.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) presented its inflation projections for the current year, in which is contemplated the expected effect of the international price of hydrocarbons as well as the impact of the entry into force of the value added tax.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.59, Nicaragua $3.21, Honduras $3.20, El Salvador $2.74, Guatemala $2.66 and Panama $2.64.
From the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador report:
The downward trend of the reference prices for the present fortnight is mainly due to the increase of the gasoline reserves and the oil distillates of the United States of America (USA); according to the last report by the IEA, the gasoline reserves increased by 8.1 million barrels per week, the greatest increase in the last 6 weeks; likewise, the reserves of distilled fuels, such as diesel also increased by 10.6 million barrels per week, being the greatest increase in the last 3 weeks.
In Costa Rica, the price indexes of buildings and social housing registered in December last year 4.1% and 3.9% year-on-year variations, respectively.
From the statement of the National Institute of Statistics and Census:
The price indexes for construction base February 2012 are a set of twenty statistical indicators, which measure the variation in the prices of materials used in the construction of different types of works.
Properly establishing the criteria for the application of discounts or special conditions helps to wisely manage price reductions without compromising the company's profitability.
Price management specialist and Fijciondeprecios.com founder, Ariel Baños, explains how through the "strainer strategy" discounts to customers can be managed intelligently.
In December, the FAO food price index fell 4% compared to the same month in 2017, explained by the decline in prices of meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar.
From FAO's monthly report:
The FAO Food Price Index* (FFPI) averaged 161.7 points in December 2018, nearly unchanged from its November value as lower dairy and sugar quotations were largely offset by firmer cereal prices and somewhat higher prices of meat and oils.
The variation of the CPI reported during December 2018, was determined by the behavior of prices of Transport and Food and alcoholic beverages.
The National Institute of Statistics and Census reported that, during December, the goods and services showing the greatest positive effect are: tourist packages, subscription television and internet service. On the other hand, gasoline, airfare and liquefied gas were among the main with the greatest negative effect.
Price per gallon of regular gasoline: Costa Rica $3.94, Nicaragua $3.35, Honduras $3.27, El Salvador $2.78, Guatemala $2.78 and Panama $2.64.
From the report of the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador:
The latest report from 2018, provided by the International Energy Agency (AIE) reports that gasoline reserves experienced a significant increase of slightly more than 3.0 million barrels per week against expert forecasts that predicted a minimum increase of just 50,000 barrels per week. Also, distillates such as diesel, kept their production rate and was almost invariable its trend with respect to the previous week, as it only increased 2,000 barrels in the week, against an expectation of a 500 thousand barrels reduction, which despite the favorable environment for the reduction of such a derivative of oil along with heating, its stability allows prices to be downward, along with those of gasoline.