The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Treasury, Rocio Aguilar, signed an order today for the reduction of general managers salaries working at the State’s commercial banks, aswell as Banco Popular.

He instructed the boards of directors of each of these institutions (Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica) as well as Banco Popular, to adjust the salary of their general managers to match the general manager of the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR).

The monthly average salary of the manager of the Central Bank of Costa Rica is of close to U.S. $16,888.58 (¢9 541 569,70); while currently the managers of Banco Nacional, Banco de Costa Rica and Banco Popular are earning between U.S. $25,134.00 (¢14.2 million) and U.S. $29,559.00 (¢16.7 million) monthly.

These are some of the highest salaries in the public sector, even the manager of the Central Banks earns considerably more than the President himself.

To justify this measure, Alvarado and Aguilar, stated that the state’s commercial banks and Banco Popular “must apply measures as part of the expense contention policies” that the central government is implementing.

They also clarified that the reduction of the salaries is backed by Article 5 section B of the Law of Financial Administration of the Republic and Public Budgets, which states that “The administration of the financial resources of the public sector will be oriented towards the general interests of the society, attending to the principals of the economy, efficiency and efficacy, with subjugation to the law”.

This is the second expense containment measure announced by the government this week alone. Yesterday, Alvarado and Aguilar, ordered to “freeze” the salaries of the government officials, which means they will not receive any raises in the next four years.

Minister Aguilar is scheduled to present to the Legislative Assembly a series of proposals to contain public expenses.