Panamanian businessmen are opposed to extending price controls on 14 products in the basic family food basket for six months.

The list of products whose prices are controlled includes slank, ribbon steak, ground beef, whole chicken, rice, onions, yams, national potatoes, perita tomatoes, yucca, powdered milk, sliced bread, processed American yellow cheese and sausages.

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From the CCIAP statement:

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP) rejects the extension of the validity of Executive Decree No. 165 of July 1, 2014, which maintains the price control measure on 14 products of the basic family food basket.

The main private sector association reiterates that this political measure was implemented during the last government administration as a temporary and emergency campaign promise; however, it has been maintained for more than five years without showing real results.

“As a guild that believes in the free market, free supply and demand, we believe that price control must be abolished, so that the distortions it has caused can be corrected. This is not the way to economic recovery,” said Jean Pierre Leignadier, president in charge of CCIAP.

Before the current government administration took office, CCIAP met with the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ramón Martínez, and presented its position on the price control measure.

“We insist that it is time to end protectionist formulas that, like price control, have proven not to work. We have to stop this once and for all,” emphasized Leignadier.