The President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, and the Minister of Finance, Rocío Aguilar, issued a directive on Wednesday to reduce the salary to the general managers of public commercial banks.
To this end, they instructed the boards of the commercial banks of the State (Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Nacional), as well as the Banco Popular and Community Development, to adjust the salary of its general managers to that of the general manager of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, as an objective and reasonable parameter of said remuneration.
The weekly remuneration earned by the Manager of the Central Bank of Costa Rica is ¢2.2 million (includes the prohibition item), therefore the average monthly salary would be ¢9.5 million. Currently, the managers of public banking entities earn a salary that ranges from ¢14.2 million to ¢16.7 million.
Alvarado said that the commercial banks of the State and the Popular Bank should apply measures as part of the cost containment policies, just as the Central Government is doing to address the fiscal problems.
Similarly, they indicated that the salary reduction of public bank managers is supported by article 5, subsection b) of the Financial Administration Law of the Republic and Public Budgets, which states that
The administration of financial resources from the public sector will be oriented to the general interests of society, taking into account the principles of economy, effectiveness and efficiency, subject to the law.”
This Tuesday, the Government announced a directive that freezes the salaries of high-ranking officials, including the president, vice-presidents, ministers, deputy ministers, and executive presidencies, managers and sub-managers of the decentralized sector.
President Alvarado asked last week to the leaders of the supreme powers to apply a policy of austerity in their budgets next year, as part of a national call to face the fiscal deficit and avoid serious consequences for the country.