On 1 June, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén marked the second anniversary of his coming to power by maintaining that El Salvador was on “the correct path regarding peace and productivity”. It was a bold assertion which some of the bald figures do not readily sustain. There were 9,622 homicides in those two years, almost double the previous two years. In the first five months of this year, there have been 2,706 homicides, up 23.6% on the same period last year. The homicide rate has fallen in the last two months but this would need to continue for several more months to become a trend as opposed to a blip. As regards productivity, Sánchez Cerén was on firmer ground: the economy grew by a respectable if unspectacular 2.4% in 2015 but export growth was the highest in Central America. End of preview - This article contains approximately 658 words.
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