El Salvador's economic problems -- the view from the left

An article appears on the ZNet web site this week providing a comprehensive picture (in English) of the FMLN's vision of the economic problems facing El Salvador. The article, written by a CISPES representative in El Salvador, points to the problem of inflation and its impact on the cost of basic foodstuffs, which the article blames partly on the conversion to the US dollar as the national currency. Combined with inflation, the country is faced with stagnant economic growth. The article faults the ARENA government's reliance on foreign borrowing to finance the national budget and the unwillingness of the government to place any increased tax burden on the wealthy and those with property.

As a consequence, the article predicts a coming economic collapse in El Salvador. The article concludes:

The economic difficulties facing El Salvador right now are the result of 16 years of loyal implementation of a U.S.-backed neoliberal model that has resulted in increased wealth for the wealthy – for multinational corporations that can buy off privatized telecommunications, or for El Salvador’s economic oligarchs who own the financial sector – and increased poverty for the rest of the nation.