The publication's peculiar survey asks just a single question: “Your goals for the new year have something to do with it” and a number of aspects that the population will face.
Neither work nor study were among the main goals or improvements needed to be achieved by respondents to the online question, with nine and three percent of responses respectively provided by the 714 people who expressed their desires.
Health and well-being was the most frequently chosen aspect at 39 percent, followed by family at 21 and savings at 15 percent and other topics at 13 percent.
For example, although authorities talk about improvements in the economy affecting well-being, January 2023 began with an inflation rate of 7.3 percent and ended November at 2.1 percent, according to the director of the Ombudsman's Office. Consumer (DC) , Ricardo Salazar, that was not reflected at the table of Salvadorans who saw the price of the basic basket rise.
This popular perception is also influenced by the fact that the press assures that El Salvador's economic prospects will improve in 2023 and that advances in security will have a positive impact on the growth of the country's economic indicators.
Central Reserve Bank (BCR) President Douglas Rodríguez recently reported that the 3.6 percent growth in the third quarter of the year was supported by the success of the security strategy implemented by President Nayib Bukele, as the peaceful environment contributed ” Trust and security.”
However, the extent to which Salvadorans will become more prosperous is a big question at the start of the year, even though risk rating firms such as Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor's and Moody's have improved their ratings and risk outlooks on sovereign debt, resulting in a favorable environment for investors.
According to economist Cesar Villalona, achieving well-being is a complex goal for many Salvadorans, considering that poverty has increased under the current government from 22.8 percent of households in 2019 to 26.6 percent in 2022.
During this period, almost 200,000 people fell into extreme poverty. Villalona said that although there is no data for 2023, poverty must have increased as the cost of living increased by six percent through November and the population's salaries and other sources of income have not improved.
This somewhat aligns with many Salvadorans' goal of improving their well-being in 2024.
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