News
Wednesday 14th August 2024
August 13, 2024
The shortage of premium rice, which has a controlled price, has disappeared from supermarket shelves. Millers claim that this is happening because the costs of raw materials have increased and do not cover either production or marketing margins.
This was stated by representatives of the National Association of Rice Millers (Analmo) who on Tuesday, August 13, responded to the complaints filed by the administrator of the Authority for Consumer Protection and Defense of Competition (Acodeco) , Ramón Abadi Balid.
On Monday, August 12, Acodeco reported that only 7.29% of the controlled inventory of premium rice is available in stores, compared to 92.71% of the inventory of special rice that is sold at a higher price.
Ivanna Quintero, president of Analmo, explained that the artificial fixing of prices is the cause of the imbalance that exists today. The millers sell first-class rice and have stopped marketing it, having to sell more special rice, they say, to cover their costs and keep the companies operating.
“Prices are not competitive and put the sustainability and financing of the sector at risk,” he warned, pointing out that millers, some of whom are also producers, have recorded higher production costs due to the rise in raw materials in the country, in addition to factors beyond their control, such as the international rise in the price of this cereal due to international conflicts in producing areas, the increase in the cost of labor and other components.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry, Julio Moltó, announced that price controls on rice will be eliminated starting this week, due to the distortion that has occurred in the sale of the product to the consumer.
“We are ending a control that does not really exist in the market,” Moltó justified when announcing the elimination of price controls on rice after 10 years.
He said it was not fair that consumers were paying for poor quality rice.
“There is no reason for the price to rise, or for anyone to play hardball with the price of rice,” Moltó said.
The Minister of Agricultural Development, Roberto Linares, announced that the subsidy for rice producers will be granted until April 30, 2025 and then this benefit will be eliminated.
“As of April 30, 2025, there will be no more compensation or incentives,” Linares said.
The minister urged both rice producers and industrialists represented at the mills to agree on fair prices for the product.
“The government will be strong and will not allow any distortion in the market,” he said.
He also reported that they are reviewing the records of the rice, corn and milk sectors in order to pay the money owed to the producers.
“It must be between $45 million and $50 million in late payments.”
Attorney Francisco “Frankie” Martinelli Patton , nephew of former President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal , has been appointed as a member of the board of directors of the Electric Distribution Company Metro Oeste, S.A. (Edemet) , representing the Panamanian State.
The decision was adopted by Executive Decree 89 of August 7 of this year, signed by President José Raúl Mulino and the Minister of Economy and Finance, Felipe Chapman .
Martinelli Patton is a close associate of the former president. Patton, Moreno & Asvat , the forensic firm for which he worked as a lawyer, is listed as the resident agent of Constructora Internacional del Sur , one of the offshore companies that Odebrecht used to deposit million-dollar payments to Panamanian officials and politicians in exchange for state works contracts.
On October 10, 2013, in an interview on Telemetro , Martinelli said that his cousin “was fired [from Patton, Moreno & Asvat], because they say they gave him money [a bribe payment]… the poor guy was set up for a scam.”
The appointment to Edemet gives Martinelli Patton two years on the board of directors of the corporation responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of electric energy, as part of the concession managed by the Spanish company Naturgy.
Even before taking office, Mulino promised to pay special attention to the electricity sector and warned that he would do everything possible to ensure that operating companies fully comply with their contracts.
In fact, on July 15, the National Public Services Authority (Asep) imposed a fine on Naturgy, specifically Edemet, for $10.7 million, and on the Electric Distribution Company Chiriquí, SA (Edechi) for $3.6 million, for failing to comply with the current service quality standards in terms of electricity.
On July 30, ASEP fined the electricity distribution and marketing company Elektra Noreste, SA (ENSA) $7.3 million, also for deficiencies in the quality of service provision.
The Mulino administration also appointed Liza Mariel McPherson Archibold de Bishop to the Edemet board of directors. Her term on the board is also for two years.
The National Decentralization Authority revealed that it detected the discretionary use of a financial account, created in 2018 and formalized in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which was called the “Social Interest Subprogram.”
According to the AND, this account was designed to address “emergencies in any district and allow for expeditious responses.” However, the AND – through a statement released on Tuesday, August 13 – indicated that it has been detected that during the years 2022 and 2023 “significant sums were transferred from this account to communal councils and some municipalities without due justification or clear purpose of the funds disbursed.”
The transferred amounts would exceed 150 million dollars, and were received “by various community councils.” In response, the AND announced the “definitive closure” of the aforementioned Social Interest Subprogram.
After almost three years of proceedings, the Supreme Court of Justice resolved an appeal that halted the delivery of information on the controversial form 172 of the National Assembly , known as cashback , and form 080.
The Supreme Court rejected a clarification of the ruling filed by the deputy of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Crispiano Adames , which kept the delivery of information to La Prensa on the secret contracts covered by the aforementioned forms stalled.
In a ruling on June 17, the full Court, under the leadership of Judge Olmedo Arrocha , did not accept a request from attorney Jerry Wilson, who, representing Adames, asked to clarify some points of a verdict of November 16, 2021, in which that justice corporation partially granted a habeas data appeal to this media.
In those days the president of the Legislature was Adames.
At that time, the Court ordered the Assembly to hand over part of the data related to the payrolls, which included disclosing all legislative staff contracts. At that time, the Court questioned the Assembly for the alleged lack of information on the contracts, and noted that it was “obvious” that the institution should have some kind of documentary support.
Following that verdict, Wilson filed an appeal to clarify the ruling, but the plenary argued that this claim was not viable, since everything was explained in the November ruling “explicitly.” This means that the Assembly must provide the information.
However, since July 1, the Justo Arosemena Palace has new guests: 71 deputies for the constitutional period 2024-2029. It also has a new board chaired by deputy Dana Castañeda , from the Realizing Goals party.
La Prensa demanded the data from the Assembly’s payroll 172 in the midst of a journalistic investigation that brought to light multiple irregularities in the multimillion-dollar payrolls.
At the end of April 2019, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic published on its website the details of the payroll expenses for the period 2014-2019. The information revealed that deputies from different parties used more than $166 million in personnel contracts. Several of them hired their children, siblings, parents and spouses.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office reported on Tuesday, August 13, that 600 packages of drugs were seized in the Búcaro sector, in the province of Los Santos, and three people were arrested in the operation. The drugs were found after a search warrant on a boat south of Búcaro.
The Los Santos Drug Prosecutor, Lirys Barrios, reported that agents of the National Aeronaval Service interrupted the movement of a boat in which the drugs were being transported and that three Colombian citizens were arrested. The prosecutor explained that the illicit substance was found in three bags and that those arrested will be placed at the disposal of the competent authorities. The National Aeronaval Service reported that 45,632 packages of illicit substances have been seized this year, through 84 operations.
A legislative proposal was submitted to the National Assembly to declare October 16 of each year as Patacón Day throughout the Republic of Panama.
The legislative initiative was presented at the Citizen Participation Office of the Assembly by Iván Felipe Álvarez Yau. According to the explanatory statement of the draft law, on October 16, 2019, Panama achieved a significant milestone by obtaining the Guinness Record for the largest patacón in the world. “This achievement not only raises the name of our country internationally, but also strengthens our cultural and gastronomic identity. In addition, October 16 coincides with World Food Day, which adds a relevant context for the promotion of our culinary culture,” says the document.
The bill is currently undergoing a technical-legal analysis to determine whether it is viable. If accepted, it will have to be debated in the Legislative Committee on Education, Culture and Sports .
The document defines patacón as a typical dish made from fried green plantains, “one of the most representative gastronomic symbols of Panamanian culture.”