A bill is being prepared to impose taxes on money which enters the country seeking to exploit the gap between interest rates in local currency and in dollars.

Furthermore President Chinchilla has issued a directive to state banks to stop competing with each other to attract investments from large institutions, such as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, the Social Security Department, or the National Insurance Institute. It also requires public institutions to make new investments exclusively in state banks.

Details of the fees or taxes imposed on capital defined as speculative – including the definition – will be the subject of a new regulation, which is expected to give flexibility to the Central Bank in the implementation of measures against speculative capital.

Government officials have not mentioned changes in the exchange rate system, which initially reassured the export sector, as versions a floating currency system, which in the short term would lead to an appreciation of the colon, had them very worried.

Source: Nacion.com