According to Abelardo Medina, an economist at the Central American Institute of Fiscal Sciences (ICEFI), the lack of a definitive agreement on a tax reform in Costa Rica is putting the social achievements of the last 40 years at risk.
Medina evaluated the country’s draft budget for 2017 and estimated that maintaining the medium-and long-term prospects of fiscal inadequacy will affect the sustainability of the State.
The main causes would be a permanent accumulation of fiscal deficits and a growing public debt to finance the difference between government revenues and expenditures.
For its part, the Ministry of Finance insists on the importance of moving forward with the fiscal agenda in the Legislative Assembly, which remains virtually static.
We need to achieve fiscal sustainability in the medium term, but in order to achieve this, we urgently need approval of the remaining projects within the agenda for the Strengthening of the Public Treasury,”
said Minister Helio Fallas.
According to Fallas, completing the agenda is critical in order to slow the growth of the debt’s interests.