Starting from May companies will be able to use intellectual property rights, crops or inventories as collateral for bank loans.
The law which goes into effect on May 20 allows accounts receivable, movable property (except vehicles), stocks, crops, inventories of merchandise and commercial patents to be used as collateral for loans.
Danilo Montero, executive director of the Costa Rican Association of Development Organizations (Acorde), told Nacion.com that "... The law will be very useful for the type of customers they have, most of which are micro-businesses that offer exactly this type of backing. Now this gives us the ability to record, electronically, colatorol with the Registry and in case of default of the debtor, it will be easier to implement the collateral put up. "
While governments spend fortunes on consultants to promote SMEs, the imbalance between their expenses and their income is the main threat to employers.
An article in Elfinancierocr.com reports that Danilo Montero, executive director of the Costa Rican Association for Development Organizations (Acorde) noted that "... The main risk to the national economy in 2014 threatening micro, small and medium enterprises is the fiscal deficit. "
Costa Rican financial group Interbolsa is looking for a partner to invest in its main asset, Interbolsa Sociedad Administradora de Fondos de Inversión.
50% of Interbolsa’s portfolio is composed of Real Estate Investment Trusts, considered the group’s key assets.
Interbolsa’s CEO, Danilo Montero, told Elfinancierocr.com that “they have been considering this possibility since last year, but there is nothing concrete yet”.
Physical and legal investors can buy Monetary Stabilization Bonds without a seat in the exchange.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica proposed a change in monetary policy regulations, allowing any investor to purchase bonds issued directly by the body to regulate the money supply in the economy.
In an article in elfinancierocr.com, Roy Gonzalez, "... explained that this measure, along with other changes they are pushing, aims to improve liquidity control and interest rate signal transmission."
Investors in Costa Rican government securities are expected to benefit from an upgrade in the nation's debt rating.
Standard & Poor's rating agency raised Costa Rica from BB "stable" to BB "positive". Although Costa Rica remains relatively vulnerable in meeting its short-term commitments, the trend is toward an improvement, it said.
The change is expected to lead to a greater return for those who have invested in government titles, and it will improve the government's ability to fulfill its near-term obligations.
Costa Rican investors are steering clear of stock markets in other Central American countries where they say interest rates are too low and assets lack liquidity.
Yet the markets in El Salvador and Panama have attractive features. Corporate debt dominates in Panama, while in El Salvador investors can acquire stocks in companies that are quoted on Wall Street.