The economy of El Salvador has experienced relatively low rates of GDP growth, in comparison to other developing countries. Rates have not risen above the low single digits in nearly two decades - part of a broader environment of macroeconomic instability which the integration of the United States dollar has done little to improve. One problem that the Salvadoran economy faces is the inequality in the distribution of income. In 2011, El Salvador had a Gini Coefficient of .485, which although similar to that of the United States, leaves 37.8% of the population below the poverty line, due to lower aggregate income. The richest 10% of the population receives approximately 15 times the income of the poorest 40%. As of 3 November 2014, the IMF reports official reserve assets to be $3.192B. Foreign currency reserves (in convertible foreign currencies) are $2.675B. Securities are $2.577B with total currency and deposits at $94.9M. Securities with other national central banks (BIS and IMF) are $81.10M. Securities with banks headquartered outside the reporting country $13.80M. SDRs are at $245.5M. Gold reserves (including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped) reported at $271.4M with volume in millions of fine Troy ounces at $200k. Other reserve assets are financial derivatives valued at $2.7M. Having this hard currency buffer to work with, the Salvadoran Government undertook a monetary integration plan beginning 1 January 2001, by which the U.S. dollar became legal tender alongside the colón, and all formal accounting was undertaken in U.S. dollars. This way, the government has formally limited its possibility of implementing open market monetary policies to influence short term variables in the economy. Since 2004, the colón stopped circulating and is now never used in the country for any type of transaction; however some stores still have prices in both colons and U.S. dollars. In general, people were unhappy with the shift from the colón to the U.S. dollar, because wages are still the same but the price of everything increased. Some economists claim this rise in prices would have been caused by inflation regardless, even had the shift not been made. Some economists also contend that now, according to Gresham's Law, a reversion to the colón would be disastrous to the economy. The change to the dollar also precipitated a trend toward lower interest rates in El Salvador, helping many to secure credit in order to buy a house or a car. Over time, displeasure with the change has largely disappeared, though the issue resurfaces as a political tool when elections are on the horizon.
Top Sectors in El Salvador
Agriculture in El Salvador
In 2018, El Salvador produced 7 million tons of sugarcane, being heavily dependent on this product. In addition to sugarcane, the country produced 685 thousand tons of maize, 119 thousand tons of coconut, 109 thousand tons of sorghum, 93 thousand tons of beans, 80 thousand tons of coffee, 64 thousand tons of orange, in addition to smaller yields of other agricultural products such as watermelon, yautia, apple, manioc, mango, banana, rice etc. The ultimate goal was to develop a rural middle class with a stake in a peaceful and prosperous future for El Salvador. At least 525,000 people—more than 12% of El Salvador's population at the time and perhaps 25% of the rural poor—benefited from agrarian reform, and more than 22% of El Salvador's total farmland was transferred to those who previously worked the land but did not own it. But when agrarian reform ended in 1990, about 150,000 landless families still had not benefited from the reform actions. The 1992 peace accords made provisions for land transfers to all qualified ex-combatants of both the FMLN and ESAF, as well as to landless peasants living in former conflict areas. The United States undertook to provide $300 million for a national reconstruction plan. This included $60 million for land purchases and $17 million for agricultural credits. USAID remains actively involved in providing technical training, access to credit, and other financial services for many of the land beneficiaries.
Energy in El Salvador
El Salvador's energy industry is diversified across fossil fuels, hydro, other renewables (mainly geothermal) for local electricity production, along with a reliance on imports for oil. El Salvador has an installed capacity of 1,983 MW generating 5,830 GWh of electricity per year, 52% of this comes from renewable sources including 29% from geothermal (produced from the country's many volcanoes), 23% from hydro and the rest is from fossil fuels. According to the National Energy Commission, 94.4% of total injections during January 2021 came from hydroelectric plants (28.5% - 124.43 GWh), geothermal (27.3% - 119.07 GWh), biomass (24.4% 106.43 GWh), photovoltaic solar (10.6% - 46.44 GWh) and wind (3.6% - 15.67 GWh)
Manufacturing in El Salvador
El Salvador historically has been the most industrialized state in Central America, though a decade of war eroded this position. In 1999, manufacturing accounted for 22% of GDP. The industrial sector has shifted since 1993 from a primarily domestic orientation to include free zone (maquiladora) manufacturing for export. Maquila exports have led the growth in the export sector and in the last 3 years have made an important contribution to the Salvadoran economy.
Mining in El Salvador
Mining in El Salvador expanded in scope from artisanal mining to industrial mining at the San Sebastián mine in the 1970s. Chemicals from that mine polluted the San Sebastián River. Mining ceased during the Salvadoran Civil War. After the war, the country's right-wing government proposed 33 mining zones, issuing exploration licences to American, Australian, and Canadian companies. The plan was met with opposition of many local community and community leaders, who successfully blocked exploration in Chalatenango in 2005. Pacific Rim Mining Corporation obtained a permit to explore the El Dorado gold mine in 2002, but were denied a license to mine in 2008, following local opposition. Mining for metal was banned in 2017, although the creation of a mining regulator in 2021 and the arrest of anti-mining activists in 2023 prompted public speculation that the government is considering resuming mining.
Telecommunications in El Salvador
El Salvador has 0.9 million fixed telephone lines, 0.5 million fixed broadband lines and 9.4 million mobile cellular subscriptions. Much of the population is able to access the internet through their smartphones and mobile networks, which liberal government regulation promotes mobile penetration over fixed line including the deployment of 5G coverage (which testing of began in 2020). Transition to digital transmission of TV/radio networks was done in 2018 with the adaptation of the ISDB-T standard. There are hundreds of privately owned national TV networks, cable TV networks (that also carry international channels), and radio stations available; while there is also 1 government owned broadcast station.
Services in El Salvador
In the 21st century, numerous call centers serving North American markets have been developed in El Salvador, including Ubiquity Global Services and Synnex. The industry benefits from the availability of a large English speaking work force, composed of deportees from the United States.
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