OPINION: A country hostage to subsidies

There is nothing more permanent than a temporary measure, especially if it is a subsidy that takes away pain from the population and avoids the political cost to governments.

From 2004 to the present, the state has subsidized the electric tariff for $1.797 billion That is equivalent to almost the total contribution of the Canal in the last fiscal year, or at the cost of 94 bilingual schools like the one inaugurated a few months ago in Pacora.

While the country squandered this money, the third line of electrical interconnection was unforgivably delayed. and the use of more efficient mechanisms of energy consumption has been expanded, as well as the deployment of green sources of sustainable energies such as wind and solar energy. Whatever it is that happens in the National Assembly, the subsidy this year will have to be for 129 million dollars each one of which means fewer resources for education, health, safety, garbage collection or the improvement of the agricultural production system that would help to reduce the basic basket. Panamanian society is kidnapped by subsidies, and that has transformed citizens into hostages of the political gift …LA PRENSA Jul. 19