In the midst of a turbulent fiscal discussion, this Friday the government will present the Ordinary Budget of the nation for 2019 in the Legislative Assembly.
Weeks ago, President Carlos Alvarado announced that the spending plan will have a lower growth than inflation as far as the government’s operating expenses is concerned. However, he said that the global budget will grow pushed by the amount that is allocated to pay the main interest on the public debt.
The country’s public debt is one of the most important items in the budget and it grows over the years.
Neither the Executive, nor the president have published the figures. However, the Central Bank of Costa Rica foresees that inflation could be in the range of 2% to 4% for the period 2018-2019.
For 2018, the government’s budget was ¢9.3 trillion (millions of millions of colones), which implied a growth of 3.2% compared to 2017.
The Minister of Finance, Rocío Aguilar, will be in charge of presenting the budget. The legislators have until November 30th to discuss it and propose changes.