After the legislative and municipal elections in 2012, the crisis appeared between the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional(FMLN) and the right-wing Alianza Republicana Nacionalista(Arena). El Salvador's incumbent President Mauricio Funes continued to follow a moderate left-wing line. He still had a high support among the Salvadoreans. Precarious security situation remains a major concern for individuals and businesses. On the one hand, the Funes government increased the public investment to meet the social demands; one the other hand, he apologized again for the violations of human rights that took place during the country's civil war. The economic growth further slowed down due to sluggish domestic and foreign demand. The economy for the whole year maintained low levels of inflation. The formal employment slowed down affected by a public spending crunch. The government has introduced a number of social policies in order to mitigate the development dilemma caused by insecurity. The United States remained its most important trading partner and source of foreign investment. In the meantime, El Salvador was strengthening its diplomatic and commercial relations with Asian and other Latin American countries. <<