Caribbean & Central America - July 2015 (ISSN 1741-4458)

El Salvador’s economy grew by 2.3% in the first quarter of 2015, which is higher than the historical average over the last decade, according to the central bank (BCR). The main factors behind the economic growth were an increase in exports, higher household consumption and more jobs in the manufacturing sector.

Despite this slight upturn, the president of the BCR, Óscar Cabrera Melgar, cut the growth forecast for this year from a range of 2.2%-3.5% to 2%-2.6% due to slightly weaker than expected US growth. This has contributed to slower growth in remittances which totalled US$1.73bn in the first five months of this year, up just 1.1% on the same period in 2014.