by the El Reportero‘s wire services
San Salvador, Oct 4 – El Salvador increased its electricity exports by 33 million dollars until August, the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) said today.
Douglas Rodríguez, president of the banking entity, pointed out that the energy sector reported a growth of 15.3 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to contribute to the country’s balance.
We sold 33 million dollars in energy that is no longer used in the country, but is supplied to other countries, Rodríguez said.
According to data from the BCR, the energy sector is part of 15 of the 19 economic activities that make up the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of El Salvador and that reported growth in this year-on-year period.
The official emphasized that the country depended on Nicaragua and Honduras for its consumption, but now it is capable of generating energy to satisfy its own demand, something achieved with the diversification of the energy matrix, which no longer depends only on hydroelectric plants, but also combines geothermal, wind, photovoltaic and natural gas.
For his part, the president of the Lempa River Hydroelectric Executive Commission (CEL), Daniel Álvarez, highlighted the lowering of electricity costs and its export to neighboring countries such as Guatemala.
Noticias de México por Mexico News Daily:
Proposal to convert office buildings to address housing shortage in Mexico City
Due to the current lack of housing, a real estate executive suggests some office buildings should become apartments
An executive with the Keller Williams real estate company has proposed converting offices into homes to alleviate the housing shortage in Mexico City.
The Valley of Mexico branch of national housing association Canadevi says that 20,000 additional homes need to be built in the capital every year to keep up with demand, but construction figures have been much lower than that in recent years and have declined annually since 2017.
Due to the current shortfall of housing stock, Jorge Carbonell believes that some office buildings – many of which have fewer tenants than they previously had due to the shift to remote work during the pandemic – should be turned into apartment blocks.
“There is a decline in construction and real estate development and converting some offices into homes could be an option,” he told the newspaper Reforma. “It’s a great option to alleviate the crisis” given that there is so much office space in Mexico City, Carbonell added.
According to real estate company JLL, there are 7.5 million square meters of office space in the capital and just under 1.76 million meters – 23.5 percent of the total – were unoccupied at the end of June.
