QCOSTARICA – The fact that some productive sectors announce layoffs and lower profits due to the historical drop in the dollar exchange rate is not good for the country, since these alarmist messages only contract domestic demand, according to Alonso Elizondo, executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce.

Until now, the sector has remained silent about the implications of the behavior of the exchange rate, arguing that they were respectful of the decisions of the Central Bank.

However, now they are coming to light to disprove certain myths.

The first is that commerce is the big winner with the fall of the dollar, which they say is not true because adjusting their inventories is not so fast.

“There is a lot of merchandise that was bought at high prices and the merchant cannot continue selling it at those prices, they have to lower it (prices) because their competitor is not local but global and if a consumer does not find an attractive price here, they will buy it online,” Elizondo explained.

The other myth is that the prices of goods and services have not gone down and that the differential is being pocketed by the merchant.

“This is not the case either because general inflation reached a maximum of 12.1% in August 2022. However, in recent months it moderated to reach 5.6% in February of this year,” he concluded.