The residential internet bill, with a speed of 40 to 60 mbps, is between $26 and $42.39 in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
Honduras and Nicaragua have the lowest residential internet prices of between 40 and 60 megabits per second (mbps), according to an economic note from the Executive Secretariat of the Central American Monetary Council (Secmca).
The document, entitled “Direferences in purchasing power between countries,” resumes the reference prices of residential Internet of a specific company with operations in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
The Secretariat notes that in Honduras such a plan costs $26, while in Nicaragua $28,999 is paid. El Salvador is the third country with the cheapest internet, positioned at $30, followed by Guatemala with $31.96 per month.
Dominican Republic and Costa Rica are the countries with the highest residential internet rate, $35.67 and $42.39, respectively.
Mobile Internet and other services
The analysis also raises the cost of an internet package of between 18 and 30 gigawatts (Gb). This mobile phone service is purchased between $21.99 and $37.83 in the region, according to the Secmca.
The report details that Honduras and Nicaragua maintain the lowest levels at $21.99, while Guatemala and Costa Rica ranked at the highest, with $35.30 and $37.83, respectively.
The Secretariat also analyzed the price of 18 goods in the supermarkets of Walmart and Sirena, between food and drink, where Honduras and Nicaragua were found to have the lowest prices, when they surpassed the ticket between $48.95 and $49.16, respectively, followed by El Salvador with $53.22.
Costa Rica reported the highest price, around $73.12.
The document similarly exposes the price of 13 items from the PriceSmart supermarket, which confirms that Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador have the lowest prices, ranging from $136 to $148.52.
In the economic note, El Salvador stands out as the second in which private education is cheapest, adding $4,434.33 on average a year in tariffs at all levels, surpassed only by Nicaragua with $4,424.67.
Education is more expensive in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, surpassing $6,000 per year.
The Secmca recognizes that there is a difference in the cost of living between the countries of the region, a situation that could be linked, in part, to the monetary policy schemes of each country, which affect a disparity in income and productivity.
The economic note points out that Costa Rica is the country with the highest income levels compared to the rest of the region, while Honduras and Nicaragua are in line with the lowest.
The analysis, which takes over World Bank data, states that El Salvador is the one that least increased the average labor productivity between 1991 and 2017, with only 0.81%.
In that period, Costa Rica increased its labour productivity by 1.69 %, while Honduras increased by 1.30 per cent and Nicaragua by 0.96 per cent.
The Secretariat points out that Governments should establish measures to achieve higher levels of productivity, influencing the acceleration of their economic growth, and the quality of life of populations.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo