The economist Rodrigo Chaves was sworn in this Sunday as the 49th president of Costa Rica for the period 2022-2026, in a ceremony held at the headquarters of the Legislative Assembly.
Chaves, 60 years old and from the Social Democratic Progress Party, was sworn in before the president of the Legislative Assembly, Rodrigo Arias Sánchez, in an event to which 97 leaders and international personalities were invited, including the King of Spain, Felipe VI.
According to the AFP agency, Chaves’ main goal is to try to solve the country’s economic crisis, with 23% of its population living in poverty (6.30% in extreme poverty) and 13.6% unemployed, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC).
“This, it seems, will be a management focused on the economic part, the strong point of the president-elect. In addition, it is a national concern in all sectors. It seems that we are going to see a proposal for the restructuring and reorganization of public finances”, political analyst Gina Sibaja said.
-A president mired in scandal-
KeysPh.D. in Economics from The Ohio State University and Harvard, in USAworked for 30 years within the World Bank, where he was accused of harassing two subordinates between 2008 and 2013.
He was sanctioned in October 2019 with a demotion to a position without dependents and the impossibility of a salary increase in three years. He resigned about a month later.
“I have a wife, six sisters, eight aunts and two daughters, I have a deep respect for all women”, he told AFP in February, ahead of the first round of elections.
However, this March 28, the Wall Street Journal insisted that Keys He maintained his misconduct with staff in Indonesia between 2018 and 2019, when he headed that headquarters.
Costa Rica currently has a debt of 70% of its GDP, the fourth highest in Latin Americawith high rates of poverty (23%) and unemployment (14%).
-Boost of the economy-
During an interview for the AFP agency in April, Keys considered “indispensable” the agreement that his country signed with the IMF for 1,778 million dollars, but hopes to “improve” the goals, with more efficient economic growth plans.
“The IMF is not a source of resources to meet the government’s financing needs. We think of it as an instrument to give confidence to the people who have to lend us money, that Costa Rica will be able to honor its debts”he explained.
Costa Rica closed 2021 with a fiscal deficit of 5.18% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), lower than the 8.03% registered in 2020. The public debt, of more than 42,436 million dollars, exceeded 70% of the GDP.
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Source: Gestion
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