Salvadorian central bank forecasts 1.0 pct GDP decline this year

• Source: Xinhua
• [08:05 July 10 2009]
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El Salvador's central bank chief said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to decline 1 percent in 2009, according to news reaching here on Wednesday.

"There is no chance of positive growth," Carlos Acevedo, president of the central bank, said at Congress.

"Quite the contrary, the negative percentage could be much greater. And the greater the negative... the more jobs will be lost and the lower the income for the people who the crisis hits worst," he said.

El Salvador suffers an economic recession after the United States, its largest export market, was hit by the global downturn.

Salvadorians in the US also contribute a large amount to the domestic economy by sending home money to their families, and have reduced the remittances as they undergo tougher economic times.

Late June, Acevedo had called for a formal pact between business people and the government which will allow the government to keep going, and reduced the impact of the slowdown on the nation's most vulnerable families.

Data from the Salvadorian Social Security Institute showed that 21,000 formally registered jobs have been lost in the first five months of this year.