Subscribe to our Daily News RSS feed.

Read the Daily News on your mobile device.

Theater at Noon in Alajuela
Rodolfo González, stories, Sept. 2, 12:10 p.m., Juan Santamaría Museum, Alajuela.

Faith Akin Film Festival
“Gegen die Wand,” Sept. 2, 6 p.m., Sala Gómez Miralles, Centro de Cine, Av. 9, Ca. 11, behind INS, 2290-9091, ext. 102.

“Nobleza equina”
Sara Morales' exhibit opening Sept. 2, 7 p.m., through Sept. 30, Galería Country Art Café, Costa Rica Country Club, Escazú. Info: 2208-5016.

Costa Rica's government will operate with a deficit equivalent to 5.3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) under President Laura Chinchilla's $109.7 billion budget proposal for 2011.

It will be the second consecutive year that Costa Rica operates with a fiscal deficit, after the administration of former President Oscar Arias allowed the deficit to grow to buffer the impact of the worldwide recession. 

According to Finance Minister Fernando Herrero, the idea is to maintain social programs until revenues can return to previous levels.

“We have to consider this budget as a provisional one,” he said, “because it is not sustainable in the long term. The government can't continue to operate with a deficit of this magnitude (for very long).”

Speaking to media representatives packed inside the Legislative Assembly's executive offices, he said, “At this moment, (the deficit) is not a problem. In fact, it's a benefit to the country because it allows us to meet internal demand.”

He said the gap will give the Chinchilla administration flexibility to pursue its social and security programs, such as creation of a national day care system, strengthening of existing aid programs and augmentation of the country's police force.

The deficit will be financed by public debt, which has decreased from 41.7 percent to 24.7 percent of GDP in recent years, giving the central government a safe margin within which to “stimulate growth without threatening the fiscal sustainability” of the country. The plan is to decrease the deficit each year for the next four years, until government income is sufficient to cover all its expenses as well as service the debt.

But the country cannot go forward without a tax reform, Herrero said, as new resources are necessary to further develop the country and to meet current needs. The central government is pursuing a dual-track effort of reducing the number of tax delinquents while introducing new taxes.

“Without this tax reform, the deficit will continue (to grow) and it will become a problem for our country,” Herrero said. “We can only present this budget with the understanding that it should be accompanied by a tax reform.”

The budget now goes for deliberation to the Legislative Assembly, where the assembly's president, Luis Gerardo Villanueva, expects extensive debate, but hopes for its approval for “the country's welfare.”

Beginning in February 2011, Frontier Airlines will begin offering a new route from Denver, Colorado, to Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, capital of the northwest Costa Rican province of Guanacaste. Frontier has offered direct flights between Denver and Juan Santamaría International Airport outside San José since 2007.

The Frontier flight will leave from Denver at 8:25 a.m. Sunday mornings, arriving in Liberia at 2:35 p.m. The return flight will leave Liberia at 3:25 p.m., arriving in Denver at 8:10 p.m. The new flight will be offered only on Sundays.

Increasing the number of international flights to and from Costa Rica is one of the key goals of Tourism Minister Carlos Benavides.

“The promotion of new airline carriers and routes is a very important push during this administration,” Benavides told The Tico Times in April. “It will be important to try to establish new routes to new markets, and we are looking to promote more destinations for tourists from the U.S. and Canada.”

Daniel Oduber International Airport is increasingly becoming a prime portal for tourists. The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) reported in April that over 50,000 travelers touched down in Liberia during the first two months of 2010, an increase of more than 24 percent over the same months in 2009. Liberia is about a 45-minute drive from the Pacific coast.

Costa Rica's National Emergency Commission (CNE) moved 90 people from across the country to temporary shelters on Tuesday night after heavy rains and strong winds damaged homes.

The commission has issued a green alert, the lowest of the country's three alert levels, for the entire country for the remainder of the rainy season.

On Tuesday night, rains flooded 10 houses in the Central Valley and tore the roofs off eight homes, including three in Escazú, west of San José.

Storms also flooded homes on the Nicoya Peninsula in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, Ciudad Quesada in north-central Costa Rica, and San Rafael de Corredores in the country's Southern Zone.

The National Meteorological Institute is forecasting strong rains and electric storms through Thursday morning for the Central Valley, the Northern Zone, the Pacific coastal region and the Caribbean slope.

Under a green alert, the CNE advises citizens to be watchful of river levels and blocked sewer drains that could cause flooding. The commission also recommends that residents who live in disaster-prone areas prepare emergency kits with flashlights, clothes, battery-powered radios, medicine and food, in case a mandatory evacuation is ordered.