Music Program honors Haydn and Mendelssohn
Featuring clarinetist Juliane Baur of Germany, 7 p.m., room 107, School of Music, UCR.

Tico National Identity and Language Workshop
With Dionisio Cabal, Sept. 29, Oct. 6, 7-9 p.m., Mexico Institute, reserve at 8924-2504.

Theater at Noon
Camerata Aurelio Castillo in Concert, noon, National Theater.

By Adam Williams
Tico Times Staff | awilliams@ticotimes.net

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made an additional $65 million available to Costa Rica, following a review of the terms of its standby loan, the IMF said in a statement.

The new money brings the total amount of IMF funds available to Costa Rica to $585 million, pursuant to an arrangement created in April that offers funding of as much as $735 million from which the country can draw as needed.

Following the meeting of the executive board, Murilo Portugal, the fund's deputy managing director and current chair, explained the reasoning for the increase in available funding.

“The 15-month standby arrangement is expected to remain precautionary and will continue to support confidence through the availability of a substantial liquidity buffer,” Portugal said. “The program has been revised to partly accommodate lower-than-expected fiscal revenues through higher deficits in 2009-10.”

According to the IMF, Costa Rica has done well to weather the effects of the global economic and financial crises, although, given declining manufacturing output and diminished revenues from exports and tourism, the funds are a necessary precautionary measure to ensure buoyancy for the slowed economy.

The review also found that the historical lows in the inflation rate that Costa Rica presently enjoys has allowed the Central Bank to achieve more lasting price stability and praised the bank's cautious policies regarding inflation and the exchange rate. The IMF also reported that Costa Rican banks are sound and that the repayment of loans continues to contribute to stability.

“Overall, the near-term prospects for Costa Rica's economy have improved and external vulnerabilities have declined,” Portugal said. “The incipient global recovery should boost confidence, help lift export-related activities, and restore investor risk appetite. Continued strong implementation of the policies under the IMF-supported program will help insulate Costa Rica's economic recovery from these downside risks.”

Three months of intense dialogue between the feuding parties in Honduras find the chief mediator in the crisis watching from the sidelines.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a longtime champion of peace in the Central American region, has chosen to remain in his home country as the conflict becomes more torrid in Honduras.

“I want to be available … if I am needed,” he said at a news conference from his home on Monday, “but I won't go unless my presence is necessary.” Despite rumors that he will travel to Honduras in the company of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, he said, “I was not thinking about going.”

Instead, he is hoping his Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno will travel to Honduras in the company of a delegation of nine other foreign ministers on Thursday. He told a bevy of press gathered in his living room that the Organization of American States (OAS) was dialoguing Monday about sending an envoy.

Meanwhile, the crisis continues to crescendo in Honduras with the suspension of constitutional rights to protest, the closure of at least two radio stations and the expulsion of a handful of OAS delegates.

Though Arias said he continues to hold out hope, he also said he is being a realist.

He acknowledged that when the San José Agreement first landed on the table as a possible solution to the crises, he thought it would be signed within days. Yet, with each passing week, he is losing optimism.

He also said the situation likely will not be solved in time for Honduras' presidential election in November. “It's difficult to imagine an electoral campaign under normal conditions,” he said.

Costa Rica's National Emergency Committee (CNE) donated 󋼂 million (more than $50,000) worth of building material Monday to 50 families in Santa Bárbara de Heredia, north of San José, who suffered housing damage who suffered housing damages when a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the region on Jan. 8.

The donation, which consisted of bags of cement, building blocks, wood and rebar, is the first of its kind from the commission. Although nearly nine months may seem like ages to wait for the first donation of building material, CNE spokesman Reinaldo Carballo said that the government has been assisting families and neighborhoods in other ways.

“There has been a series of situations that have helped these areas,” Carballo said. “There has been work done to the aqueducts, families have been relocated, roads have been worked on. This donation is just the latest in our efforts.”

In spite of the effort, a July report released by the government's rebuilding commission indicated that only 40 of the 1,000 displaced families have been successfully relocated. Carballo said the number can be misleading, however, because some families refused to accept relocation.

The rebuilding commission estimates that the earthquake caused more than $35 million in housing damage.

The CNE is planning other material donations in the upcoming months for Alajuela and Poás, northwest of San José, Heredia, north of San José, and Grecia, west of the capital city.

Habitat for Humanity recently completed construction on 13 homes in Alajuela for families who lost their houses on Jan. 8.