Caribbean & Central America - February 2011 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Social investment:   Last month the government announced its intention to finance record social spending this year - a move widely perceived to have electoral motives (the March 2012 legislative and municipal vote).   Citing the fight against poverty and the establishment of a “system of universal social protection" as Funes's main strategic objective, the technical secretary to the presidency, Alexánder Segovia, announced US$819m (3.8% of GDP) had been set aside for social investment in 2011 - 70% more than in 2010.

Remittances: According to El Salvador's central bank (BCR), remittances reached US$23.3m in January 2011, a 9.9% increase on the same month in 2010 and the biggest monthly rise for the last 35 months. Remittances amounted to just US$3.54bn in 2010, a small increase of 2.2% on the previous year.

Trade deficit: The BCR reported that El Salvador's exports reached US$4.47bn in 2010, an 18% increase on 2009. Imports grew by a similar amount to US$8.55bn, resulting in a US$4.08bn trade deficit. Oil imports rose by 33% in 2010 to US$1.44bn on the previous year.