In El Salvador, the union of industrialists is demanding the new Congress to focus on the creation of laws with emphasis on simplifying procedures and reducing bureaucracy.
In addition to the legislation related to regulatory improvements, the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI) proposed to the new deputies the need to accelerate the integration of El Salvador into the Customs Union between Guatemala and Honduras.
In El Salvador industrialists state that capacity to generate energy is not lacking, what is needed is investment to improve capacity of the transmission lines.
In the opinion of the Salvadoran Association of Industrialists, the expansion proposal presented by the Salvadorian Transmission Company (Etesal) is fundamental in order to be able to upload the energy that will be generated from new projects, such as thesolar power plant that is planned for construction in Usulutánor thenatural gas plantthat Energía del Pacífico plans to build in Acajutla.
Salvadoran industrialists claim that with the presidential veto of the administrative simplification law, the country has lost a valuable opportunity to improve the already deteriorated business climate.
EDITORIAL
With the veto of the Administrative Simplification Act, the Salvadoran government is sending a clear message to the business community and to society in general: There is no interest in paving the way for the private sector to generate more jobs and, consequently, more wealth and socioeconomic development.
On July 18 and 19 companies in the food industry will be meeting in San Salvador to showcase their products and explore business opportunities.
Within the framework of the congress lectures will be given on topics related to good practices in food production, innovation and use of technology in the industry.
The event is being organized by the Association of Industrialists in El Salvador.Its president, Javier Siman, told Elmundo.sv that"... 'different activities will serve to provide more tools that generate and broaden business relationships, so that the industry is at the forefront of technology, knowledge, best practices, and the country's excellence and contribution will be recognized'."
Businessmen have described as a "disguised tax" the decree by the Sanchez Ceren administration which adds a fee for social investment on to the energy rate .
The decree states that the new charge of 13% within the tariff will begin on July 15 and notes that"... the charge for social investment will be part of the fees in the system, which are transferred to the entire electricity demand in the different markets managed by the Transactions Unit and will be calculated quarterly as a dollar value per megawatt hour, equal to 13% of the value of the average price of Transferable Energy rates corresponding to the previous quarter ".
The industrial union has reported that 245 industrial companies ceased paying social insurance in 2015, with some of them deciding to operate in the informal sector and other closing permanently.
Violence and insecurity, the creation of more taxes and lack of legal certainty are some of the factors behind the decision of many Salvadoran companies to completely close their operations or go to work in the informal economy.Data from the Association of Industrialists (ASI) indicates that the informal sector rose from 52% of the economy in 2010 to 72% in 2015.
Businessmen have denounced the impossibility of signing contracts to buy power for terms larger than 12 months, because there is still no regional guidelines to regulate it.
There is no point having an electricity market if you cannot import power for periods longer than one year, this is what the industrial union in El Salvador is arguing, stating that "...
The sector produced 44% of all goods exported by El Salvador in 2013.
The production of textiles, clothing fibers and other synthetic fibers remains the main economic sector in El Salvador. Knitted fabrics, for example, accounted for 64% of total sales abroad during 2013.
Production (by the industry) increased by 4.1%, exports by 9%, totaling $2.394 billion worth sent by the country to other nations such as the United States.