El Salvador has achieved an economic growth rate surpassing the average of the last three decades, according to Maria Luisa Hayem, the Minister of Economy, who highlighted this achievement on Monday morning.
Hayem emphasized that the average economic growth rate recorded in the last three years in El Salvador exceeded 2.1%, which had been the average for the previous three decades.
«We closed the year 2023 with quite positive economic figures. At the beginning of this year, the economic growth was confirmed, and the good news is that we have reached 3.5%. We are witnessing increased production, expanding industries, and sectors that are hiring more,» she commented.
«For the third consecutive year, we are experiencing economic growth higher than the 2.1% average that we had over the past 30 years. We are implementing various initiatives to ensure that we continue on this path of growth with solid foundations,» she added.
The official also highlighted that «now, El Salvador has a government with experience, nearly five years of work. We have implemented successful projects.» «In 2019, we found a country with many obstacles to trade. We met with government institutions related to trade and with the business sector,» she added.
Within this upsurge in El Salvador’s economic growth over the past three years, Hayem emphasized the streamlining of bureaucracy, something that the current administration has implemented to make the country an attractive point for companies and investors, thus boosting the national economy.
«When we analyze the barriers to economic growth, insecurity was the number one variable. The other major challenge was bureaucracy. From the Ministry of Economy, we have taken the lead in working with 10 government institutions to first inventory and then move towards digitization,» she said.
«We are seeing a reduction in costs and time. Something very important is the message we send, beyond the impact on the companies benefiting from the measures, it’s the message of an efficient government that is digitizing and has the commitment to respond quickly. That counts a lot in the analysis that entrepreneurs make about where to invest,» she added.
Finally, Hayem emphasized that «the important thing is to see that the commitment to eliminate bureaucracy is cross-cutting. Additionally, being able to bring talent from abroad to contribute to the projects we implement from the government, but also to contribute to the business sector.»