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Category: Finances
This Thursday and Friday many banks are quoting exchange rates far higher than the Banco Central de Costa Rica, which seems to lag behind the market.
Banco Nacional established its exchange rate on Friday to be U.S. dollar = 525 colones (to sell) and 534 colones (to buy). Scotiabank had rates of 524 and 536 colones.
Banco Central, however, was quoting 511.15 colons in exchange for one U.S. dollar and 521.38 colons to purchase a dollar.
Earlier in the week a U.S. dollar could buy just 503 colons, so the sudden jump is about 4.4 percent so far.
There still was no explanation as to why the dollar took a fall from the 560-570 range in just a month and a half. Most expats are welcoming the return of strength of the US$.
This week the Central Bank of Costa Rica unveiled the new ¢20.000 and ¢50.000 notes that will be in circulation in July 2010.
The new bills will be in addition to the ¢1.000, ¢2.000. ¢5.000 and ¢10.000 notes already in use.
Marvin Alvarado, of the Central Bank, explained that the first to be emitted will be the ¢20.000 by the end of July or early August, with the rest following slowly thereafter. Read more »
This month the dollar has dropped more than ¢7 colones, hitting a low not seen in 2 years. At the beginning of this year it was around ¢560.
Yesterday the dollar moved a bit upwards, but economists are not ruling out the possibility that the dollar could hit the bottom of the exchange band, ¢500 colones, in the coming days.
Today the reference rate set by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (Central Bank) is ¢512.53 for the buy and ¢523.08 for the sell, a few colones higher than Wednesday's opening.
Experts say that, even though the trend in the short term is to keep dropping, in the long term there will be an increase.
Yesterday, $US dropped ¢6 colones, bringing the fall to ¢12 colones for the week. The US dollar has been dropping steadily all week, bringing the total drop in the four days to ¢12.29 for the buy and ¢12.11 for the sell.
The US dollar rate by the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) was ¢6.43 colones less for the buy and ¢5.52 for the sell, dropping the sell rate to ¢569.82 and the buy ¢579.72, a drop of ¢6.43 and ¢5.52 respectively. Read more »
In 2010 the Central Bank of Costa Rica will start introducing the different size of the paper for the currently existing bills. It will also introduce 20,000 and 50,000 bills. Each note’s design will be distinct and feature a famous Costa Rican personality. The 20,000 note will be featuring Maria Isabel Carvajal (Carmen Lyra) and the 50,000 – Ricardo Jimenez Oreamuno. The 20,000 note will be orange and the 50,000 – purple. Read more »
Currently there 11 coins in Costa Rica: ¢5 (two in silver and one in gold), ¢10 (two in silver and one in gold), ¢20, ¢25, ¢50, ¢100 and ¢500.
The Central Bank (Banco Central de Costa Rica) has decided to remove from circulation the large and heavy silver coins of ¢5, ¢10 and ¢20.
The smaller and lighter silver coins of the same denomination will be let in circulation. Read more »
The approval of the discounted rates concludes an ongoing dispute between ARESEP and the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), which opposed the drop. Read more »
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) issued a warning saying that businesses should not accept payment by checks of any kind from the ICE The reason – several check frauds by scam artists. Read more »
According to the Economist magazine’s “Big Mac Index” the Colon appears to be very close to it’s true value (relative to $US). In San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica) the “Big Mac” costs 2,000 colones, or $3.43 at an exchange rate of 583. In the United States the price is around $3.57. Six months ago 1 $US was worth 550 colons, but the devaluations brought the colon much closer to it’s correct value. Read more »
A customer went to a Banco Nacional office in Alajuela to open a savings account, but the bank representative refused to do so. The reason being that this particular customer still owed money. That debt is about 32 years old.
The Banco Nacional officer wanted the customer to pay off the old debt first. The customer won the appeal: according to a summary released by the Poder Judicial, the bank was told to open the account immediately.
6 separate loans that were approved as a package. $200 million are planned for the municipalities and the rest will go to the transport ministry for road projects, including work on the Interamerican highway.
The President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, is relying on the loan to pay for many improvements in the national infrastructure.
The Union Costarricense de Camaras y Asociaciones del Sector Empresarial Privado predicts that the inflation for the year is just 7.5 %, based on Banco Central figures.
Employee representatives first proposed a 6% increase. Then employer representatives backed off their original proposal of 3% and said 2%. The government supported the lower number.
The mandated minimum wage is different for each occupational category.
The salary increase for the whole year is more than 9% when the 7% January increase is added in.
Costa Ricans are still very inexperienced when it comes to choosing credit cards. It’s still hard for most to figure out what’s a good deal and what’s not. Actually the advertising industry is to blame: with the right skills you can dress up even a horrible offer to look like a sure thing.
A legislative committee has two proposed laws that would regulate the marketing of credit cards in the country.
The chairman of the Comisión Permanente Ordinaria de Asuntos Económicos only said that the committee is in the process of evaluating both proposals. The likely outcome of the discussion will be a combination of both suggestions.
Finance minister, Guillermo Zúñiga, pressed for reforms in property tax collection during last cabinet session. He stated that 82% of properties in Costa Rica do not pay any municipal taxes.
In Costa Rica municipalities are responsible for property tax assessment and collection. After investigation on how municipalities are faring on the collection of taxes Zúñiga told fellow cabinet minister “there are interesting facts on the subject”.
According to the Finance ministry report, out of the 1.5 million properties, only 6.13% actually pay municipal taxes, the rest are not paying any type of property tax, which leads ministry officials to believe that municipalities need help in tax collection.
Zúñiga said that about 25% of the municipalities don’t even have a property assessment office and 60% of municipalities don’t have a way to collect the tax and update property values. He added that municipalities can count on a modern system for property assessment and tax collections. Ministry of Finance will help them to assess property values and generate more tax revenue.
The Oficina de Apoyo al Consumidor in Costa Rica announced yesterday that a law similar to that signed by Barack Obama about limits on credit card fees, could soon become a reality in Costa Rica.
Director of the Oficina de Apoyo al Consumidor, Cynthia Zapata, said that they will try to place limits on credit card rates and other markets that are not in place right now.
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May 7, 2010 8:45 pm
Finances
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