The Costa Rican Chamber of Industries announced that it will strongly oppose the fuel-price increase requested by the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) by the end of 2016.
The chamber thinks the increase is unacceptable since they consider that the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) intends to increase its operating costs and operating surpluses for its aggressive investment plan.
Now it turns out that the Central Bank of Costa Rica has managed to maintain very low levels of inflation, close to zero, but RECOPE domestic expenses increased by 30% in 2016. Instead of transferring its inefficiency, RECOPE should organize its internal issues,
declared Ricardo Solera, Vice-President of the ICRC.
According to the ICRC, these increases are not related to inflation, which was -0.8% in 2015, 0.8% in 2016 and it is estimated at 3% by 2017. The main reason why operating costs increase is due to expenses, especially wages, charges and fees, which represent 41% of RECOPE total operating expenses.