The 2017 budget drawn up by the government of Costa Rica is the result of an arithmetic exercise, where the political will of the Solis administration has barely reduced maintenance and has increased privileges in the dominant state corporations.
EDITORIAL
Scandalous could be the best word to describe the magnitude of the increase of 12% which the Solis Rivera administration has made in the 2017 public budget.The 12% increase not only far exceeds the projected inflation for this year, but is disproportionate and far from reality, considering the serious and urgent fiscal problem facing the country.
As in old fashioned patriarchal homes, if there must be suffering, the first to suffer are the stepchildren, and only afterwards, if necessary, the legitimate children.
EDITORIAL
The announcement by the Solis administration that it has a plan B in case it does not manage to get legislative approval for the proposed tax increases designed to address the serious and growing fiscal deficit, highlights the existence in Costa Rica of first class citizens and second class citizens.
The prospective candidate must have magician's skills, preferably qualifications as an engineer or lawyer, and a vocation to be a punching bag.
EDITORIAL
It's been two weeks since the resignation of the Minister in charge of Public Works and Transport in Costa Rica and President Solis has not yet announced who will fill the position. And there is no doubt that it will be very difficult to find not only the ideal candidate for the job, but also someone willing to accept such an impossible mission.
The President of the IADB has advised Costa Rica to make a tax reform to raise taxes arguing that today the teetotum indicates "everyone gives".
EDITORIAL
The use of the old fashioned game of a faceted spinner by the head of the hemispheric institution as example, deserves to have the whole story told: the person who spun the teetotum was the Costa Rican government, the same participant of the "game" who on their previous turn benefited from the teetotum when it landed showing "TAKE ALL". Luis Alberto Moreno is saying that the serious fiscal crisis which the country now finds itself in means that now everyone must contribute to its solution. That means aproving more taxes.
Free parking in Panama and heavy trains running through the streets of the capital of Costa Rica, are examples of some of the strange decisions taken by their governments.
EDITORIAL
While the rest of the world discourages the use of private cars as a means of transportation, increasing the costs of their use by setting, among other methods, high costs for parking in urban areas, in Panama, whose capital city suffers like any other city from the growing problems of congestion on the roads, the National Assembly recently passed a law that mandates free parking in "commercial parking lots of any kind or public offices where purchases are made, goods acquired or any services received. "
In Costa Rica President Luis Guillermo Solis is urging the national population to consume nationally grown instead of imported rice, "even though it is more expensive."
Extracted from Reportearroz.com:
ASIA
India and Thailand, a tug of war for first place.
As part of Asian exports, India and Thailand are playing in first position. According to official data, Thailand will be the largest rice exporter after India held the lead for two years.
Rulers should be aware that a very large percentage of their people do not satisfy their hunger eating sovereignty but by eating rice and beans.
It seems that the current interest of the elected president of Costa Rica is to maintain the highest possible tension with Nicaragua.
Editorial
Undoubtedly, any gesture of rapprochement with the government of President Ortega will entail political costs for Luis Guillermo Solís, the next president of Costa Rica. But it is clear that this - the beginning of his term - was the best time to make that gesture, promoting a release of tension over the border dispute in the Caribbean area.
In scenarios where no candidate managed to win a direct election, the results of the first round confirmed the trends of voters to the left in both countries.
In a second round on March 9th in El Salvador and on April 6th in Costa Rica the next presidents of both nations will be chosen, after two elections ended with no candidate receiving the required majority to be declared president.
Paralyzed in political terms, the integration of Central American countries continues to advance in commercial terms.
While trade between the Central American countries continues to grow, as well as regional synergy between its companies, governments have been unable in recent years to marry the process of trade integration with the necessary institutional integration.