The growth of Costa Rican public debt rose dramatically over the past decade.
According to Rodríguez, manager of Cathay Bank, the internal and external public debt increased more than 3 times in a decade.
In addition, since 2008, the percentage of public debt compared to the country’s GDP also increased. This behavior broke a trend that lasted 25 years, with the most dramatic increase in the first quarter of 2016, when debt grew by almost $ 2,000 million (approximately ¢ 1 billion).
The economist Leiner Vargas highlights the fact that the current conditions of the public debt could turn into a snowball.
Analysts’ biggest fear is that possible increases in interest rates in dollars and colones raise interest payments, which grew 14.9% compared to 2014.