QCOSTARICA – President Carlos Alvarado assured that reducing the single tax on fuels will generate a hole in the country’s public finances, given the recent increases in the price of fuels.
This week fuels reached the highest price since the creation of regulating authority, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP), a liter of super costs ¢822, regular ¢805 and diesel ¢724. In addition, the Costa Rican Oil Refinery. RECOPE, that refined nothing, warned that the upward trend will continue due to the crisis in Ukraine.
Alvarado defended the initiative presented by the government that intends to freeze the increase in the tax for one year, but explained the implications of drastically reducing it.
Data from the Ministry of Finance reveal that the collection of the single tax on fuels increased 42% in one year, only in January amounted to ¢68 billion colones.
Regarding the crisis in Ukraine, President Alvarado explained that a team at Casa Preidencial is still analyzing the options to mitigate the impact that would be generated at the economic level.
On other issues, the President announced that he will leave a series of reforms presented to the legislative current, so that they can be discussed by the next Legislative Assembly.