-Published: Friday, January 10, 2020-




By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The government announced that it is working on the design of a bill that would be presented to the congress to use an estimated $21,314,952 in savings in luxury pension reductions to help the poorest population.

According to the government, the bill's goal is adding an article to the Law No. 9796, "Law to redesign and redistribute resources for solidarity social contribution."

With this modification, the savings generated by the reduction of luxury pensions could be transferred to existing programs that help people with the lowest incomes in the country, said the government.

According to President Carlos Alvarado, getting the approval of that bill would help take care of the most vulnerable population that has already been identified and manage a more efficient redistribution of public resources.

In Costa Rica, the government has a list of families with low incomes, known as Registry of State Beneficiaries. In that database are listed the names, locations and income level information of the poorest people and families in the country. Based on that information the government develops and distributes the social assistance programs.

According to the data provided by the government, with the recent approval of Law No. 9796, to cut luxury pensions, the annual savings were increased from $9,333,701 to $ 30,648,654.

But this bill will face a long period of analysis and discussions in congress before its approval. For that reason, there is no estimate of when the savings generated by the reduction on luxury pensions could be assigned to social assistance programs. In addition, there remains the possibility of civil suits to reverse the aim of the law.

In October the 2019 National Household Survey, developed by the National Statistics Institute, reported the poverty index is 21%, a figure that shows no changes compared to 2018.

"This 21 percent equals 336,000 families in poverty in the country," said the institute in its report.

According to the institute, the families that are in poverty are those with incomes below the poverty line index, which is established at ¢112,317 colones per month, about $193 for families living in the urban area.

In the case of families living in a rural area, the poverty line is income less than ¢86,353 per month, about $148.86.

In addition, the extreme poverty line is also established when the family's income is below ¢50,618 per month. That is about $87.26 for the urban area.

In the case of families living in rural areas, the poverty line is monthly income less than ¢42,117 per month, about $72.6.

According to the study by geographical area, urban poverty reaches 19.8%, while poverty in rural areas is 24.2%. Both data do not show significant changes compared to 2018.

In addition, extreme poverty, which are those households whose per capita income is not enough to at least meet basic food needs, was 5.8 percent. This is equivalent to 93,542 families in situations of extreme poverty, the statistical institute estimates.

A part of the study is the Multidimensional Poverty Index, which consists of access to basic needs such as health, education and housing, among others.

For example, among the shortcomings in poor households, the lack of medical services is the highest percentage. This means that 62.8 percent of poor households do not have access to medical services. This equals 187,000 families.

The complete data of the study can be reached in Spanish at the National Institute of Statistics site.


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