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IMF: What role do you see for the IMF in supporting the country’s policy and reform efforts?
President Alvarado: The IMF plays a key role in three areas: technical support to the program’s design, implementation and follow up; the credibility it brings to the process and to the macroeconomic policy program at the national and international level; and access to cheaper financing by mobilizing resources from other official creditors and supporting market confidence.
The COVID-19 shock was of such magnitude, not just on lives and livelihoods but also on the public finances, that fiscal consolidation is unfortunately inevitable. Having the IMF’s support helps us to smoothen this process and strengthen our public finances in a way that ultimately benefits all Costa Ricans.
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In early March, the sunset lookouts in Monteverde, Costa Rica, were packed with tourists. This community of roughly 6,000 residents is an ecotourism hot spot, and by most accounts, 2020 was set to be a banner year.
Now police tape wraps the newly installed wooden benches, and every attraction, including the famed Cloud Forest Biological Preserve, is shuttered. Restaurants are folding and accommodations, from backpacker hostels to homestays and Airbnbs, are empty. A silence has descended, cut only by birdsong. It’s both tranquil and ominous the sound of indefinite absence.
Santa Elena, the village serving the area around Monteverde, normally hums with visitors hopping from backpacker hostels to restaurants and attractions, such as the Serpentario snake zoo (right). Now the streets are empty.Photograph by Mauricio Valverde Arce
More than 7% of Costa Rica’s microenterprises closed in 2020, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC).
The number of microenterprises Costa Rica’s smallest businesses, as defined by a formula that takes into account annual revenue and the amount of people employed dropped to 367,911 in 2020. This represents a decrease of 28,885 microenterprises compared to 2019, or -7.3%, per INEC’s annual survey on the topic.
INEC says the Covid-19 pandemic provoked the creation of about 22,500 new business, the majority “out of necessity” because the individuals lost their previous job, couldn’t find salaried employment, or needed additional household income.
Google has released its Year in Search 2020, where it recaps the most popular searches on the internet giant.
Here’s what was trending in 2020 for Costa Ricans, along with a short explanation for each search:
Coronavirus: OK, we’re not explaining this one.
Bono Proteger: Costa Rica’s emergency financial assistance that was delivered to individuals or families who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Elecciones Estados Unidos 2020: Ticos apparently kept a close eye on the U.S. elections. Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump in early November.
Síntomas del coronavirus: Like the rest of the world, Costa Ricans wondered if their runny nose and headache might by symptoms of COVID-19.