“Bread today” decrees will  deepen Panama problems – business chamber

Controlling food prices or forcing discounts on medicines will not only increase citizen discomfort in the short term because it is unsustainable, but it will deepen the needs of the country causing the closure of more businesses and increasing unemployment said Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (Cciap), on Sunday.

 It refers to an executive decree, which sets the maximum gross marketing margin for some imported products that make up the basic food basket, and another, which creates the “Panama Products” program, whose objective is to make available national products, at a discount price by the Institute of Agricultural Marketing. Both decrees are from July 26.

More recently, executive decree 17 of August 10, set 30% discounts on the price of 170 medicines.  was published in the Official Gazette

For the Chamber, these measures show a Government “unaware” of the roots of the deep problems of Panamanians, “with no major plans than transferring solutions to long-standing critical issues to the private sector, which have worsened due to their lack of will to attend to them in a timely manner”.

“Taking populist measures, lacking in support and with no possibility of sustaining over time, is bread for today that will generate worse conditions for tomorrow,” said the group arguing that short-term relief should be better thought out so that plans can be established that address the root of the problem; without neglecting the great need of the population: access to educational programs, professional training or quality public services.

The Chamber union also stated that “when 8 out of 10 people in search of medicines are patients of the Social Security Fund who have paid their fees, ignoring the chronic problem of shortages in this institution is simply an act of irresponsibility.”

The Cciap expressed its willingness to contribute to the solution. “However, this does not only happen through the participation of a single sector, it is about the sum of all in order to find more effective and sustainable measures over time.”