Officials used words like “crisis” and “precarious” to describe the country’s fiscal situation after years of legislative gridlock that have been unable to rein in Costa Rica’s deficit, despite several downgrades from international ratings agencies.
President Luis Guillermo Solís will attend the U.N. Climate Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 23, where he will give a speech about Costa Rica’s efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, along with meetings with world leaders and multinational corporations.
The ratings agency Moody Investors Services downgraded Costa Rica’s government bond rating to Ba1 from Baa3 with a stable outlook Tuesday. The decision came weeks after President Luis Guillermo Solís presented his government’s budget for 2015 without any substantial proposals to curb the country’s growing deficit.
One revenue stream the administration seems bully on is improving tax collection. During his 100-day speech, President Luis Guillermo Solís noted that tax evasion, estimated at 13.8 percent of GDP, outpaced actual tax collection during 2013, at 13.1 percent of GDP
