Like lemmings running towards a cliff, Costa Rica repeats the kind of actions that underscore the definition of a society incapable of stopping on the road to a terminal crisis.
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.
An official report reveals that Costa Rican government officials get sick five times more than those in the private sector.
EDITORIAL
Data from the Central Evaluation Commission on Disabilities of the Costa Rican Social Security Department (CCSS) indicate that during 2014 the average number of days that each civil servant was incapacitated by illness was five times higher than the average number of days each private sector worker was absent from their duties due to illness.
If there are no reductions in state subsidies and wages no type of fiscal reform will allow the country to achieve sustainability.
Since 2013 and via an Article IV report for El Salvador, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been warning the government about the need to take action to moderate wages in the public sector and correct poorly targeted subsidies, establishing strict controls over costs, which for the current year increased by $281 million.
In light of increases of salaries of mayors and councilors, business leaders in El Salvador are urging the austere and responsible use of public funds.
A statement from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of
El Salvador reads:
Public servants should not misuse the resources they manage
With the growing fiscal imbalance and severe economic crisis facing the country, we demand that officials in charge of state bodies and municipal councils show greater accountability and transparency in the management of public funds they are in charge of.