Film: 'Half Moon'
By Kurdish-Iranian writer and director Bahman Ghobadi, at Sala Garbo, at 3, 4 and 5 p.m.

Short films showing
Organized by Solaris, Galería Amón, at Cine Variedades, 9 p.m., free admission.

Asian Film Festival
“Alter Life,” by Hirokazu Koreeda; “A Tale of Two Sisters,” by Ji-woon Kim, June 26; “Shower,” by Yang Zhang, July 3; all at 6 p.m., Calle de la Amargura, former Banco Anglo building, San Pedro. 

Creative women's workshop
Organized by the Central Pacific Women's Group, 9 a.m., Balcón del Mar, 2nd floor, Jacó, Puntarenas, 2643-2853.

Luis Angel Castro in concert
With Allan Estrada on drums, Jorge Araya on bass and Carlos Delgado on electric guitar, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro.

Play: 'Exorcismale'
“Exorcismale: A story of love in times of the Inquisition” starring Rubén Pagura and Carolina Fonseca at 1887 Theater, starts 8 p.m., through Sunday.

Costa Rican women's youth soccer team faces Nicaragua today after a strong debut Tuesday in Puebla, Mexico, in the qualifiers to see who will make it to the FIFA Under-20 Women's World Cup in Chile this November.

The Ticas beat Jamaica 3-1 on Tuesday, in a match that was delayed 50 minutes because of an electrical storm, the daily La Nación reported.

The Nicas come from a 2-0 loss Tuesday to Canada's side, which Costa Rica is scheduled to play on Saturday.

The CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship is set to run in Mexico through June 28. The top-three teams from CONCACAF ( Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) will get to face top sides from other continents in Chile from Nov. 19 to Dec. 7.

Government officials warned Costa Ricans yesterday that the nation's oil bill by year's end could be double that seen in 2007, and they forecast more measures to stanch consumption.

“We're moving from an oil bill of $1,451 million (in 2007) to a current estimate for this year of up to $2,860 million,” said Presidency Minister Rodrigo Arias in a press conference yesterday afternoon. “So that you can judge the magnitude (of that increase), this bill would represent 9 percent of gross domestic product.”

Driving deeper his point, Arias said the amount earned from Costa Rica's top four exports – coffee, bananas, sugar, beef and pineapple – would just meet the amount the country's oil bill has increased this year alone.

“That's how serious the situation is and that's why a group of ministers is talking about preparing more measures to complement those that were announced on Thursday” to conserve fuel, Arias said.

The government last week announced a cross-ministry and multi-pronged plan to attack fuel consumption. Increasing access to public transportation is a key part of the government's plan.

The International Monetary Fund is nervous about Nicaragua.

At a meeting Tuesday in Managua, IMF representative Luis Cubeddu expressed the financial body's concern over inflation in the Central American country, which last year reached 16.8 percent, the highest in the region.

After Nicaragua's Central Bank announced last week that accumulated inflation as of May 31 hit 9.43 percent, the IMF are not the only ones concerned.

Government economists, who had set a goal to keep inflation rates in the single digits this year, are also starting to worry as the accumulated rate grows nearer to the 10 percent mark.

On the other hand, despite the grim forecast, Central Bank President Antenor Rosales said all is not lost.

Read Friday's Nica Times, an eight-page publication of The Tico Times, for more on this story.