News Briefs, 28/5//2008

Fred, Rickie the Cat, and Ethel

It is pouring here, and has been through most of the night.

The biggest story in most of the on-line newspapers today is the report of a mula--a large, flat-bed truck, falling on top of a house in one of the Gatún neighborhoods in Colón.  I've linked to La Prensa's front page.  

Another brief article states that while the water level at Fortuna is increasing, Bayano is still below normal, so there's increased production of electricity from "thermal" sources in order to keep up electrical production.  I'd read that earlier in the week.  I'm not exactly sure what that means.  Normally, I'd assume that meant geothermal energy; while there are hot springs in Chiriquí, I don't think they're large enough to generate electricity.  So I'm assuming that fossil fuel plants are what's meant.

Another article that appeared earlier in the week in Crítica quoted the ex-director of IRHE (no idea but a hazarded guess is some governmental agency that oversees energy), Gonzalo Córdoba, as saying that the current energy crisis is a created one, thanks to self-serving decision-makers (I assume in the electricity-generating businesses) who don't listen to the experts but only act to increase profits and against the interests of the country.  According to Córdoba, one of the big problems is that there isn't adequate regulation, and those that are in charge of regulation now are the same ones who are involved in the privatization of IRHE. 

Well, I see that they've certainly learned from the US.

Don Ray from Chiriquí Chatter sent me this link to a blog that has a post with more complete information about governmental food subsidies here in Panamá.  The blog also mentions the potential for a "social explosion" to hit the streets here if something were not done.  I have been reading brief references in the on-line papers to demonstrations: University of Panamá students, other students, labor groups.  The Panama News has mentioned "restlessness" about food prices.  I was really surprised to read in the blog that the price of a pound of rice (I would guess in Panamá) had risen to $0.70/lb.  I have not seen anything more than $0.50/lb here, but that's one advantage of living in an agricultural area (and is one big reason why we chose to live where we are)--food prices are almost always lower.  Still, we're going shopping today, and since we have to buy rice, we'll see.

I should mention, for those who are in the area that, at 3:00 pm on Sunday, there will be a presentation (in Spanish) at the Potrerillos Arriba Infoplaza about the history of Chiriquí province, as an adjunct to the celebration of the 159th anniversary of David.  We intend to go.  I'm bringing the cam corder--this time, complete with tape.  I still haven't forgiven myself for Easter's faux pas.

News Briefs, 27/5//2008

La Prensa:  "English: A Stone in the Shoe."  The article reports on the failure of colegio students to demonstrate proficiency in English as evidenced by poor performance on exams.  According to the article, a 60% grade is passing; average grade was 53%  for 12th grade students.  The test has been mandatory since 2007.  It's bad news for the universities, too, because, since 2007,  proficiency in English is required to get a diploma.

La Prensa:  Panamanian economy, while growing, is slowing in rate, down 4% from this time last year.  Those sectors that have slowed: pretty much all the agricultural sectors, which is very bad news at this time of higher food prices, tonnage passing through the Canal, manufacturing in the food and textile industries, among others.  Officials are blaming the slowdown on high fuel prices.

La Estrella: Hydroelectric production at the plant in Bayano stopped this weekend due to low water levels.  However, the situation at Fortuna, here in Chiriquí, is getting back to normal with the steady--and at times--heavy rains we've been experiencing over the past week.  Heaven knows it's beginning to feel like August around here.

Interestingly enough, there have been demonstrations (reported in La Prensa in the past week) over Volcán way, protests by farmers and residents against a proposed hydroelectric project that would reduce if not outright eliminate water that has traditionally gone to small farmers there.

There have been accounts in La Prensa recently of demonstrations by parents and students at different primary schools that fiberglass removal has been inadequate and badly done. Today in Panamá Américana, there's an article quoting the Vice Minister of Education as admitting that many companies don't have experience in that work. Always leads me to wonder if there's a money trail there.

La Estrella: Torrijo's plan for assisting the agricultural sector with high costs consists of reducing the interest rates on loans to that sector to 2% and broadening the insurance coverage in case of natural disasters, accidents, etc affecting crops and harvests.  The president of ONAGRO (Organización Nacional Agropecuario) congratulated Torrijos on this measure, but also requested steps to reduce the number of middlemen between the producer and the market, saying that this is a major cause of the increase in costs to the consumer.

There's a much longer article in Dia a Dia on steps being taken to give consumer relief over high prices of basic foods.  It doesn't say when, but a program was started in the Azuero Peninsula that introduced measure to help producers and guarantee lower prices to the consumer.  One of those measure is that the government would buy 100% of the rice crop, which has at its base the rise of oil to $135/barrel last week.  this also would help eliminate speculation.  Urea, which is a prime chemical fertilizer used, would be sold at half the going rate.  The hope, of course, is that these measures benefitting producers will lower costs that will be passed directly to the consumer.

But meantime?   At the beginning, the article does mention some steps taken in other countries, such as the issue of food vouchers.  That certainly would help the poor in the short term.

Yesterday, I went to our local mercadito to buy a bag of cement, since our favorite construciton worker is coming here today to do a small project for us.  I shelled out $7.35 for the bag, remarking as I did so that the price had risen $0.06 since I last bought one.  The young woman at the cash register, someone I'm not familiar with, shyly started talking about the rise in food prices.  Then we got to talking about the increase in fuel prices.  

Panamá regulates the price of fuel, adjusting every two weeks; the next price adjustment is on the 28th.  Right now, we're paying $4.10 for a gallon of diesel, which about as cheap as you can get it locally.  Boquete is traditionally $0.10-$0.15 higher.  We were surprised last weekend to see stations in David $0.15 higher than our local bomba.  

For dead certain, the price is not going to drop, not with oil reaching ever higher records.  All we can do is wait and see, and continue to implement our plan to do even less driving than we are now.

So much for a brief post.

Electricity Rate Hike

A neighbor

Electricity is expensive in Panamá.  According to The Panama News, electric rates are about $.19/kWh for most of the country and about $. 26 in Bocas del Torro province.  We pay $.145 /kWh, but that may be the jubilado rate. Rates where we lived in the US (which had a high percentage of hydroelectric power) ranged from  just under $.05/kWh up to a certain use limit and $.06.something/kWh to yet another limit, which we never passed.   Of course, that was 4 years ago, and I 'm sure the rates have increased since then.  I doubt that they've doubled, though.  Even if they had, the rates would still be higher here.

According to our electric bill, since we use less than 600 kWh/mo (we use under 300), we get a 25% discount on top of that.  So that reduces the cost dramatically.  Because we're careful about electrical usage (not draconian--just common sense) and we deliberately designed energy-saving features into our house, our monthly bill is under $30.  With the July rate hike, that translates into roughly $4/mo more, taking into account the discount. I think we can lower our usage enough to minimize that hike significantly without causing a ripple in our life style.  Actually, we've already started.

Most of Panamá's electricity comes from hydroelectric power, and I read somewhere that the majority of that comes from here in Chiriquí.  But hydroelectric is not enough to supply all the needs, especially at peak hours, and the rest comes from fossil fuel-consuming plants.  So, given the price of such fuels, the request for the rate increase is hardly a surprise.

Because of the discount for using either less than 600 kWh or less than 500 kWh (depending on who you are),  most Panamanians won't be affected directly by the rate increase but of course it will affect other costs that will then be passed on to the consumer, no matter in what income level.  Most likely increases are bound to be in food costs, not so much at the producer level but at the processing and distribution level.  However, just about all goods and services are going to be affected.

There's an excellent article on the power generating situation in The Panama News, which covers background info, political aspects, government policies, the works.  I highly recommend it.

 When we first arrived here, I was astonished at the number of businesses and shops large and small in David using air conditioning--with their doors left standing wide open.  For example, when El Rey opened in David, the exit doors were open just about every  time we were there.  Even then, I wondered at the cost in electricity--not cheap here at any time--in maintaining environmental control is such a large space.  I've noticed lately that Rey's doors have been closed.

Paradoxically, in a lot of the stores downtown, the lights would be off!  Sometimes it was hard to tell if a store was open or not because the interior would be unlit.  It was bizarre to see a store with an unlit interior, doors open, and (inadequate) air conditioning working full blast.

We're not in David that much anymore, and when we do go, we tend to go to the smaller, more traditional shops and kioskos, with the exception of Rey and a few of the construction supply places like Cochez.  So it's hard to tell whether that combination of open doors and air conditioning is as widespread as it used to be.  I'll have to make it a point to check it out next time we're in town.

This hot off the press in La Prensa:  prices for 95 and 91 octane gas and diesel will rise today 9, 8, and 14 cents per gallon, and be in effect until May 28.  For diesel, which we use, the range of prices will be from about $4.06 to $4.13/gallon.  Fortunately for us, our closest bomba usually has the lowest prices.

Yesterday's paper had an account of yet more protests in the country over a number of issues, among them the pollution of the rivers (Panamanians have a strong environmental sense) and the cost of the canasta básica.  I want to write about all this, but it will have to wait until I get more time.