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updated by 7:00 a.m. CST each day
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Private Bank
Under Government Control
The Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema
Financiero, CONASSIF, decided yesterday to
intervene at Banco Bantec.
According
to a press release, the action was taken
to protect the bank until the owners and
administrators resolve irregularities in
the financial group.
Inspectors from SUGEF,
Superintendencia
General de Entidades Financieras (the
superintendent of banks), made a valuation
of the companies in the Grupo Bantec and
feel the bank is at risk. |
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SUGF
inspectors feel that the group needs 5.600.000
dollars in additional deposits to cover their
existing losses, due to bad management and risky
investments.
Last week, three bank directors resigned the
Bantec Group board.
The action by CONASSIF
is to protect the interest of the depositors and
investors of the bank.
Campaign
Funding Troubles President Pacheco, Treasurer
In one of
the latest developments on the widely-publicized
Able Pacheco campaign-funding case, Rodolfo
Montero, former treasurer of the campaign's
Parallel Finances, will allow opening its Banco
Internacional de Costa Rica (BICSA) accounts to
authorities, even though details of transactions
through these accounts are protected by
Panamanian banking secrecy policies.
It has been reported that several accounts were
illegally set up by Costa Rican businessmen to
finance the campaign, including the "Bayamo
S.A." society, which handled over $1
million for the Pacheco campaign.
None of the transactions were reported to the
Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) during the
2001-2002 presidential campaign, as required by
Costa Rican law.
Sixth
Round of Trade Discussion Finishes
Agreements that will lead to a Free Trade
Agreement between the US and the Central
American nations were slow to come by: in the
latest round of discussions, held in New Orleans
last week, only two out of twenty chapters of
the Central American Free Trade Agreement were
agreed to.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Central
American private sector claimed they felt
anxious because there is little time left for
negotiations; a total of nine rounds have been
planned.
Difficult points include agricultural
agreements: an additional meeting between
negotiating countries has been planned for the
week of August 26 in San Salvador to clear out
differences about these issues, before the
following rounds are held in Managua, in
September.
Possible
Sale of Citizen Data by ICE, Mopt, CCSS
It was
reported this week that American based companies
dedicated to selling databases containing
information such as people's names, addresses,
telephone numbers and photographs may have
illegally bought information from public
institutions such as the Costa Rican Electricity
Institute (ICE), the Transportation Ministry (Mopt)
and the Social Security Institute (CCSS).
That is one of the principal findings of a
report by an inter-institutional group,
commissioned by the Pacheco Administration last
April after it was revealed that US company
ChoicePoint bought such databases from ten Latin
American countries, including Costa Rica.
Members of the Costa Rican Security Ministry,
the Judicial Branch, and the Security and
Intelligence Direction, among others, penned the
document. Security Minister Rogelio Ramos said
they had formally taken the report to the Costa
Rican Attorney General's Office to determine how
the information was obtained.
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Cuba invited to East Asia-Latin America forum
Cuba has been invited to participate in the ministerial meetings of the East Asia-Latin America forum, which is to take place in Manila next January, the local press reported Friday.
The invitation was handed over on Thursday to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez, by Assistant Secretary for American Affairsof the Foreign Ministry of Philippines Cristina Ortega, who arrived here Tuesday for a working visit.
The Philippine official stressed the importance of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's support for strengthening ties between Manila and Havana.
"We would like to make use of those views we have in common, both in historical and cultural terms, and we hope that Cuba will become a gateway to Latin America for the Philippines," said Ortega, who returned to the Philippines on Thursday.
Perez expressed his government's interest in participating in the forum next year.
Venezuelan economy to suffer 13-percent contraction: report
The productive activity of Venezuela will be the worst in Latin America this year, with a 13-percent contraction of the gross domestic product (GDP), a regional economic report was quoted as saying Friday.
Venezuela will register "the lowest level of growth in 2003," thus completing two years of "marked contraction," the local dailyEl Nacional quoted the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) as saying in a report.
The report attributed the contraction to internal political crisis, labor actions, a 63-day suspension of activities in the petroleum sector and the abandonment of the exchange-rate band scheme of last year.
The CEPAL noted that the abandonment has led to an accelerated loss of value of the country's currency, accompanied by inflation and worsened by a drop in GDP and flight of capital.
In regard to unemployment, it said Venezuela "sank to the bottom, without a clear recovery around the corner."
The National Statistics Institute said the unemployment rate reached 19.2 percent in the country in May.
The CEPAL expects Venezuela's consumer price index to rise to 30 percent from the current 17.4 percent by the end of this year, exceeding estimates for any other Latin American country.
It pointed out that inflation and economic performance in Venezuela were the "worst in all of Latin America" while forecasting an overall 1.5-percent economic growth for the region in 2003.
Chilean minister calls for coordination in fighting terrorism
Visiting Chilean Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet said on Friday that the war on terrorism has not been won, and what is to be done at an international level is taking preventive measures and coordinating with each other.
"I would not dare to make a judgment saying we're winning the war on terrorism," Bachelet said during her two-day visit to Ecuador, adding that the measures that have been taken "are as effective as possible, since terrorism's method relies on the surprise factor for its attacks."
"What we could do, though, is trying to prevent, as much as possible, through measures of security, confidence and coordination," she said, stressing that peace will be obtained through joint cooperation in different areas
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