QCOSTARICA – Costa Rican President, Rodrigo Chaves, announced that he will present a bill to sell the Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) and the Banco Internacional de Costa Rica (BICSA).
In addition, he proposed the sale of up to 49% of the shares of the State insured, the Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS).
According to Chaves, the sale of the BCR and BICSA would generate a total of ¢1.2 trillion colones, while the INS stake would take in ¢593 billion colones, in fresh resources for the government coffers.
“Another key action is the sale of assets such as BICSA and the BCR, which will give us fresh resources of approximately 2.8% of GDP, that we will use to reduce the debt,” said the president in his speech.
The take from the sale of the banks is equivalent to 6.5% of the country’s debt.
On the other hand, the president promised that in his administration, road works such as route 32, the expansion of route 27, and the highway to San Carlos will be completed, three projects that have been on the ‘to-do” and “never completed” list of past administrations.
For the sale of the State assets to take place, the Executive Branch must present a bill to the Legislative Assembly, which will then analyze and vote to approve or not.Chaves affirmed that the bill to sell the banks will be presented “soon”, but did not provide details on the INS.
The initiative was part of the president’s speech at the ceremony for his first 100 days in office, which was attended by the cabinet, legislators, business chambers, and union representatives, among others.
The Banco de Costa Rica has established itself as one of the strongest banking entities in both Costa Rica and Central America, with an equity of *US$806,606,710 and assets of *US$7,607,483,881.
The bank, founded in 1877 under the name Banco de la Unión, and, in 1948, the Founding Board of the Second Republic decreed its nationalization, began primarily as a private commercial bank until it was designated a currency issuer and exclusive manager of public revenues in the last decade of the 19th century. After nationalization bank became a financial entity with a major role in the development of the country.
From its founding on September 20, 1976, BICSA had the definite support of the State Banks, a condition that up to today it still maintains, this being its principal strength and method of development in the important banking activity that it has developed in Costa Rica and abroad.
*from Wikipedia
