In a few months, the dollar exchange is expected to move, though experts are not clear if the move is upward or downward.
The exchange rate that many see as ‘stuck’ or “artifically floated” is expected with the arrival of the new boss at the Central Bank.
The government of Carlos Alvarado appointed Rodrigo Cubero Brealey as the President of the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BBCR). An economist graduate from Oxford, Cubero is currently working at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and is not available to take on the Central Bank position until August.
In the meantime, Olivier Castro, who was appointed in May 2014 by Luis Guillermo Solis, will continue as the head of the institution.
Experts predict that with the arrival of Cubero, the dollar exchange rate will be closer to the real value that it should have and have had.
This means that will mean that the U.S. dollar will become temporarily more expensive than it is now. But it can also go the other way.
In a report by ElFinancierio, it is argued that productive sectors have lost competitiveness due to the level of this macro-price and an equilibrium must be sought through a gradual devaluation of the exchange rate.
Causing devaluations in the nominal exchange rate to increase its real value, not only leads to errors but is also against the role that society gives the BCCR: the stability of prices,” says the Financiero.
Cubero is Costa Rican born. He is 49-years-old, is married (since 1997) and has three children. The economist graduated with a degree in Law from the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), then a master’s degree from the University of Essex and a doctorate from the University of Oxford.
In his doctoral thesis Macroeconomic Effects of Foreign Direct Investment: the case of Costa Rica, he argues that this type of capital flows have had a positive impact on the growth and international integration of the Costa Rican economy.
To date, Cubero has played little role in the Costa Rican public sector. He said he worked as a consultant in the State Reform Program, assigned to the Ministry of Planning, in the years 1991-1992.
Sources (in Spanish): La Nacion, El Financierio, Teletica
