Bankers With the Best Pay, Second to Soccer Coach
The Spanish language newspaper Al Día says in a list of the best paid in Costa Rica, the coach of the Selección Nacional de Fútbol, Alexandre Guimaraes, who earns ¢8.1 million colones (us$17.100) a month, takes first place.

Next on the list of top earners are bank managers. Topping the list of this group are the managers of the Banco de Costa Rica who earns monthly ¢6.5 million colones and the head of the Banco Nacional who takes home a cool ¢6 million colones a month.

The president of the Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) gets paid ¢4.2 million, while the general manager of the Banco Popular has a salary of ¢4.1 million.

These salaries are of March 2005.

For his part, the executive president of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) takes home ¢3 million, being the highest paid executive of a state agency. The president of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS) earns ¢2.2 million, while the president of RECOPE - the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo - takes home ¢2 million.

The salary of President Abel Pacheco pales in comparison with that of the bank and state agency executives. The president of the Republic has a base salary of ¢1.5 million colones (us$3.200) plus is ¢250.000 (us$530.) per month in expenses.

Government ministers earl slightly less than the president, ¢1.4 million, while legislative deputies receive ¢1.1 million plus ¢409.000 for expenses.

The manager of the División de Recursos Humanos del Banco de Costa Rica, Sandra Araya, explains that every two years the bank does a survey of the salaries of the large banks - 2 state and 7 private banks.

The Banco de Costa Rica as the Banco Nacional are in direct competition with the private banks, who in the last several years have grown tremendously in size and services they offer. Araya explained that the survey is to stay competitive in salaries and to attract the best candidates for management positions.