Lower costs of food and fuel helped keeping inflation low so far this year. A total of 59 out of 104 food products had lower prices during the first five months of 2016, according to official data. Transportation costs also fell by 2 percent due to lower prices of gasoline and diesel. These were the […]
Private sector concerns entangle free trade talks with South Korea
Talks between Costa Rica and South Korea to sign a free trade agreement have stalled due to resistance from both parties to open their markets to key products in which they have greater advantages. Costa Rican businesses in machinery, tires, plastic, chemical, and electrical are in favor of keeping import tariffs against competitors in South Korea. While the Koreans have demanded Costa Rican […]
Costa Rica demands $6 million from Nicaragua for damages at Calero island
Costa Rica is demanding Nicaragua pay $6 million in indemnity for damages caused at Calero island, during the 2010 Nicaraguan military occupation. On December 16th, 2015, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ruled that Nicaragua had illegally occupied and built works on the Costa Rican side of the island. Therefore, the sentence has given Costa […]
Government asks funds to open 2,300 law enforcement positions
President Luis Guillermo Solís is asking opposition leaders in Congress to fund 2,300 law enforcement positions. The ministers and the Congressional delegates met on Tuesday at the presidential offices. The proposal would create 1,000 additional positions in the police (Fuerza Pública), 50 in migration police, 157 in national park police, and 1,100 in traffic police. A government spokesman said this week […]
Audit reveals possible conflict of interests at Banco Nacional
Officials responsible for supervising a construction company hired by the Banco Nacional (BN), allegedly allowed cost overruns and kept private business with the company owner. In 2014, the bank audit department began investigating three senior officials after having detected deposits of 23 million colones allegedly made in the company’s accounts or to the owner, and […]
Ministry says they lack personnel to tackle traffic jams
The deputy minister of public works and transportation, Sebastián Urbina, said the lack of staff prevents them from effectively solve road congestions. To contain public spending, the government has frozen hiring new staff. This prevents filling up vacancies left by retiring traffic officers, according to Urbina. According to the official, the traffic engineering unit doesn’t […]