According to Conindustria figures provided by Cifar, the pharmaceutical sector currently operates at 41% of its installed capacity, which represents an increase of 16 percentage points compared to 2021, when it operated at 25%. Low national demand, fiscal taxes, lack of credit, unfair competition from imported products and the precariousness of public services are the main headaches for industrialists
The Venezuelan pharmaceutical industry grew 14% between January and October of this year compared to the same period in 2021, according to data provided to EFE by the Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Cifar).
The industrial union pointed out that, in the first 10 months of the year, 147.29 million medicines were placed on the market, which is 18.66 million units more than in the same period of 2021, when 128.63 million were distributed. of drugs in pharmacies.
Half of the medicines distributed in the country are produced locally and the other half are imported, according to Cifar.
On the other hand, the industry reduced its market growth projection for this year from 190 million medicines to 170 million, which represents an increase of 6.9% compared to 159 million in 2021.
The deterioration in the prospects for 2023 is related to the warnings that consultants and economists have made about the slowdown in economic growth and the ceiling that various sectors would be reaching that drove this rebound experienced by the Venezuelan economy between 2021 and 2022.
The characteristics of the national economy in the last four years, with the progressive liberalization promoted by the administration of Nicolás Maduro, have led to a revival of trade, which has boosted economic activity. Thanks to this, more money circulates in the streets and there is more employment, but experts warn that production is not growing at a satisfactory enough rate to make growth sustainable.
The pharmaceutical industry is one that has grown. However, the rebound is not enough after having lost 75% of its production between 2014 and 2019, according to Cifar figures.
According to the Confederation of Industrialists of Venezuela (Conindustria), the pharmaceutical sector operated at 41% of its installed capacity during the third quarter of this year, which represented a growth of 16 points compared to its operation in the same period of 2021. when it used 25% of its capacity.
*Read also: Conindustria assured that the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP rose to 12% in 2022
The industry alerts that there are factors that affect its activity, among them the still “low national demand”, the “excessive” fiscal or parafiscal taxes, the lack of financing, the “unfair” competition of imported products and the “precariousness” of the services.
*With information from swissinfo
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