Caribbean & Central America - September 2014 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Varela claims price control progress: On 24 August the new Panamanian government led by President Juan Carlos Varela trumpeted figures from the economy & finance ministry (MEF) which showed that the price of the monthly basic food basket (Canasta Básica Familiar de Alimentos, CBFA) in July was US$318.48 – a 7.7% fall compared to the previous month. In a press release the MEF claimed that this was the most significant CBFA fall in the last decade. President Varela’s first act upon taking office on 1 July was to announce temporary ‘emergency’ price controls on 22 basic goods in order to reduce inflation [RC-14-07]. While year-end inflation was 3.4% in 2013, down from 5.7% in 2012, high food prices were a major voter concern. According to the latest (4 August) report by the national statistics institute (Inec), the consumer price index (CPI) registered a 0.8% fall in July compared to June, bringing the accumulated rate for the year to 2.2%. The CPI rate for food and drink dropped 3.1% in July compared to June.

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