On Monday, ¢100 billion were deposited in the accounts of the Ministry of Finance as the final payment for the merger by absorption between the Bank of Costa Rica (BCR) and the extinct Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago (Bancrédito).
The payment to the treasury was made through the delivery of four term deposit certificates, which have expiration terms of 120 days, one year, two years, and three years, respectively. Each certificate is worth ¢30 billion, ¢23 billion, ¢ 23 billion, and ¢24 billion, in the same order. Interest was also received for ¢5.9 billion.
In the last week of November, the Bank had already drawn up an amount close to ¢34 billion in cash.
When we requested the Treasury bills on September 26th, we talked about several ways to face those obligations. One of those ways was with the merger between the BCR and Bancrédito, as a source of resources. The second was the placement contracts. Both ways materialized this Monday,”
said Finance Minister Rocío Aguilar.
Aguilar said the results of the government’s financial balance closed in November will be published in the next few days. She announced that there was a restriction on current spending, that is, the one that does not include interest.
The interim manager of the BCR, Douglas Soto, recalled that it was last April when the entity approached Bancrédito’s intervener, Marco Hernández, to assume its assets and liabilities.
In total, the BCR absorbed ¢175 billion distributed in several assets. In addition, it translated ¢20 billion into a negative equity.
With the absorption of Bancrédito, the assets of the BCR grow by 3%.
The structuring of these certificates was carried out in accordance with the provisions of Law 9605, which authorized the merger between both state banks.