The Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (CCCR) believees the measures adopted by the Central Bank of Costa Rica with respect to the Legal Minimum Allowance (LME) in order to guarantee a boost in credit and a decrease of interest rates in the short term is insufficient, and therefore, its impact on the reactivation of the economy would not be as expected.
This is the opinion of the executive director of CCCR, Alonso Elizondo, who also urges the government authorities to take measures that generate an immediate positive impact on the economy.
Since May 16th, the chamber had announced certain measures to contribute to the economic reactivation of the country and even guidelines to increase employment generation, including the reduction of the minimum legal reserve, which corresponds to a percentage of the deposits made by financial intermediaries, to be deposited in the Central Bank.
A greater availability of credit for the private sector, as well as the readjustment of credit conditions to current debtors so that they can have a more comfortable cash flow, are essential conditions to reactivate consumption and local investment and boost economic growth that reduces the high unemployment rates that hit our country,”
reported the CCCR.
These are the recommendations of the CCCR to stimulate the placement of credit:
-Decrease the interest rate of current loans granted to SMEs for 24 months, so that the interest rate for loans in colones is not higher than the basic passive rate + 375 basis points (bp) and, in the case of credits in dollars, do not exceed the equivalent of the Prime Rate + 250 bp.
-Grant SMEs an extraordinary grace period of 24 months, during which only interest on current loans would be canceled, in order to boost business growth.
-The implementation of the credit conditions that result from the application of the above recommendations should not be considered within the normative concept called special operations.
-Establish special programs for the acquisition of the first home, construction of the first home or acquisition of a plot of land for the first time for construction, establishing fixed rates and grace periods of up to 36 months.