An unusual reduction in the stock of debt swaps in the order of ₡300 billion, ordered in 2017, would have been one of the triggers that opened the so-called fiscal gap.
This money was included in a preliminary draft budget for the year 2018 and was contemplated for the payment of Costa Rican debt, however, the order was to withdraw them. This left 2018 finances with an unbalanced.
The order came from the then Director of Public Credit Julio Espinoza, according to Ana Beatríz Hernández, head of the Department of Statistics and Debt Management of the Ministry of Finance. The official was summoned to a hearing as part of an administrative proceeding against Espinoza as well as the new director of Crédito Melvin Quirós, the treasurer Marta Cubillo, the former finance minister Helio Fallas, and the current minister of this portfolio Rocío Aguilar.
The dynamics or mechanics that had always been followed for the blueprints was that the stock of debt was considered complete. Because there was no debt to pay, there were no reductions,”
said the official.
This reduction, she said, was one of the causes of the budget gap, which he said was known since January 2018, that is, about four months before the change of administration.