A $270 million loan awarded by the BCIE will enable the construction of new hospital facilities in San Jose, Guanacaste and Puntarenas.
From a press release issued by the Presidency of Costa Rica:
This morning (yesterday) the Government of the Republic signed an agreement with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) which allows the construction of new hospital facilities, strengthening and increasing the capacity for attention of three national hospitals in the provinces of San José, Guanacaste and Puntarenas; in the latter place a new hospital will be built, since facilities were affected by the earthquake of 2012.
The project, funded with a $395 million loan from the Chinese government and $89 million from Costa Rica, has been signed by President Chinchilla.
Route 32 stretches for 107 kilometers between the River Frío and the city of Limón, and will be expanded to four lanes with "bike lanes, sidewalks, hard shoulders, bus bays and access to side streets."
Nacion.com reports that "The initiative will be sent to the Legislature for approval.
President Chinchilla has asked the central bank to reconsider the current policy of quantitative limits on credit growth.
Nación.com reported that the president's main argument is that "the outlook for the economy in the country is different from that faced in January."
The president said that "the level of inflation is within the central bank's target, interest rates have been reduced by more than four percentage points, the growth rate of the national and international economy has declined and capital flows which were affecting us have declined substantially, for those reasons I believe that there is scope to review and revise the policy adopted at that time. "
The $1.5 billion oil refinery project in Costa Rica has been severely questioned and has not yet had its economic feasibility demonstrated.
Costa Rican economists and politicians have questioned the project believing that the money would be better spent in finding alternative forms of energy.
On the other hand, there are still not any final costs for the project, or the price of the lease of the plant to the Costa Rican state run company RECOPE, leaving its economic viability still in doubt.
The visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping resulted in concrete facts that indicate the interest of Asian country for Central America, and consolidate Costa Rica as their bridgehead to the region.
Elfinancierocr.com has reported on the most relevant of these acts, the signing of a $400 million loan at a very low interest rate, to finance the expansion of a major road linking the capital of Costa Rica with the main port of the country.
The state-owned China Development Bank Corporation will be in charge of structuring the financing of $1.2 billion for the new oil refinery in Costa Rica.
Confirmation of the commitment by the Chinese state was made by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of China, Zhang Gaoli, who met on Sunday with the Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla in San Jose, to sign an agreement.
The Government signed a declaration of intent for a loan in order to fund new security programs.
Justice Minister, Hernando Paris, said the funds will be used to strengthen the penitentiary system ($ 74.3 million) and for social programs aimed at young people living in high risk areas.
"The amount required to implement the projects is $ 187.8 million, so the country would provide $ 55.8 million," reported Nacion.com.
More government spending -> more debt -> more expensive credit and more taxes. The State continues to fatten at the expense of the productive sector.
Juan Carlos Hidalgo, in his blog at Elfinanciero.com, begins his article calling the 2011 budget approved by the Legislative Assembly as “illegal”. He explains that current expenditures are included as investments, which is specifically prohibited by the National Budget Law.
The emphasis of the collaboration projects to be negotiated will be on roads and security.
In preparation for the visit of China’s chief diplomat in August, the Costa Rican government is putting together a cooperation proposal.
“Projects such as the strengthening of the National Police Academy, improvements to the highway between Limón and the Central Valley, and a ‘dry canal’ railroad to link Caribbean and Pacific ports are a few of the ideas that authorities are considering,” reports Nacion.com.