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Costa Rica will elect a president this Sunday, April 3, with an eye on issues such as the stability of public finances, the generation of jobs, the reduction of poverty, and the future of a financial agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). .
Poverty affects almost a quarter of the 5.1 million Costa Ricans, while unemployment has risen from less than 6% to almost 14% in the last two decades.
A scenario like this, added to a debt equivalent to 70.3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest in Central America, will be found by those who arrive at the presidential palace after the second round of elections on April 3.
A few minutes from downtown San José, the La Carpio neighborhood is largely forgotten by political parties. 26,000 people live in this neighborhood, including migrants and Costa Ricans who have gone from middle class to extreme poverty. #Costa Rica #elections pic.twitter.com/CT656vRgsE
— RFI in Spanish (@RFI_Es) March 31, 2022
At stake the future of the agreement with the IMF
Costa Rica is a nation accustomed to positive development rates, which relies heavily on tourism and the environment, which began to show cracks a few years ago that the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated.
For this reason, the current government negotiated with the International Monetary Fund to access a financial package of 1,780 million dollars, which has been at the center of the presidential debate, since whoever wins the majority of votes must carry out a list of reforms unpopular.
Anti-establishment leader Rodrigo Chaves has run with a slogan of “let’s make Costa Rica the happiest country in the world again,” leveraging his years of experience as a World Bank official to present himself as a safe pair of hands for the economy.
Meanwhile, José María Figueres, a centrist who was the country’s president from 1994 to 1998, has proclaimed himself the responsible option, describing voting for Chaves as a “leap into the void.”
Costa Rica proposed to the IMF a series of initiatives such as the public employment reform, which was approved by the Costa Rican Congress this month and which establishes a global salary, in addition to the reduction of non-salary benefits.
The agreement with the IMF also has other controversial projects, such as a tax on “luxury houses” and a dual global income tax that unifies various tax schemes.
Both candidates agree on the importance of the agreement with the IMF, but differ on certain points. Chaves has promised to renegotiate the deal in relation to the way in which the goals will be met, since he believes that it is not necessary to bet on tax increases.
Figueres, for his part, has announced that he will seek adjustments in some proposals presented by the Government to the IMF.
With Reuters and EFE
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