The Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) or Central Bank has raised the monetary policy rate, this time to 4.5%, and announced that it will hold auctions in the Monex wholesale market, in addition to reinstating electronic deposits made by the public through its platform Central Directo.
In order to encourage public deposits on its portal, the Central Ban raised interest rates. For example, for
For example, for a 180-day deposits, the gross rate went from 3.67% to 5.70%. Through this system anyone can make deposits starting from a minimum amount of ¢100,000 Colones (US $175).
From a statement issued by the Central Bank on June 7, 2017:
Following analysis and monitoring of the local and international economic situation, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Costa Rica in session 5772-2017 concluded that in general terms, macroeconomic indicators continue to show positive signs:
– Annual inflation in May was 1.7%, still below the lower limit of the target range of macroeconomic programming. Prospectively, its determinants anticipate that it will soon enter that range.
– Production is growing at robust rates (4% on average over the last 12 months) and labor market indicators have improved. Nevertheless, it is believed that although the recently adopted actions (in April and May last) have mitigated the risks that threaten macroeconomic stability, they still persist, therefore that the Central Bank has adopted the following measures proactively:
– Increase the monetary policy rate by 50 basis points as of June 8, 2017.
