Dear Tico Times:

I'm sure that the majority of the readers of this newspaper have noticed the beating the dollar is taking versus the colón in Costa Rica, even as it has gained 10-plus cents against the euro in the past three weeks.

It defies financial logic that a currency that inflates at 10 times the rate of the dollar should be gaining strength against it. If the colón were traded openly against other currencies worldwide, it would take a beating. But it's traded on the Monex, the isolated exchange at the Banco Central of Costa Rica (BCCR). It makes me wonder, therefore, if this tiny exchange is being manipulated for profit by wealthy Sociedades Anonimas without respect for its effect on the Costa Rican economy.

A strong local currency is great for importers, but it creates problems for exporters. Since the balance of trade is already a problem for Costa Rica, I would think the BCCR would align the colón in a more beneficial way to the currencies of the countries to which they wish to sell, thereby reducing the imbalance.

Not only does a strong local currency negatively affect exports, an important sector of the local economy, it negatively affects tourism since it takes more dollars to meet the financial needs of the tourists who must pay their expenses in colones. They must either raise their prices, making them less attractive, or reduce their services, also making them less attractive.

Reduced income in these sectors of the economy has a direct impact on the overall economy of the country, including employment. Someone is obviously gaining from the depreciation of the dollar, but I don't think it is the average citizen here.

Yaniria Araya
Curridabat

Dear Tico Times:

I would like to offer my congratulations to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT) and to Autopistas del Sol on the completion of the new stretch of the highway between Piedades and Orotina before the end of January, as well as for the improvements made to the existing highway at either end.   It will cause a great improvement in the flow of traffic between the Pacific port and the capital city.  

I was recently on Highway 1, the Pan-American Highway north of San Ramón, and the noisy tractor trailers – quite a few of which must come from Caldera with imported cargo – on that relatively narrow road are definitely too much for that thoroughfare.

However, I do have a couple of observations about the management of this new and improved road.

There cannot be a driver who has not been puzzled by the odd toll amounts levied.   Who dreamed up such charges as ¢ 320, ¢ 1,990, etc.?   Why not make the levies an even number (i.e., ¢ 300, ¢ 2,000, etc.) to speed the passage through the tollgates and avoid “nickel & diming” with small coins?

Also, why should the drivers between Santa Ana and Ciudad Colón be excused from paying tolls on the autopista, tolls which will then be passed on proportionally to other drivers at the highway's other tollgates?   This smacks of electioneering and is very unfair to other drivers.   If they are so cheap that they must avoid paying the toll at Piedades, let them take the old road between Santa Ana and Ciudad Colón.

This situation is now arising on roads in Guachipelín and San Rafael de Escazú, with drivers avoiding the tollgates by coming off the autopista at the EPA in Escazú.   Those roads are a nightmare during rush hours, due largely, I suspect, to toll-dodgers.

Phil Copeland
Guachipelín

Dear Tico Times:

The presidential debate broadcast last Thursday on Channel 6 was very close among all four of the main candidates because, this time, each one had certain high points.

Three of the candidates targeted Otto Guevara in their attacks. Their concentration on the candidate of the Libertarian Movement Party ( ML) shows us a clear acknowledgement among themselves that the space between first and second places in these elections is getting narrower by the day.

Luis Fishman, of the United Social Christian Party (PUSC), used the strategy of appearing to have a closeness with Otton Solís, of the Citizens Acción Party (PAC).

However, there is significant distance between the second and third place candidates, and the only ones with a true chance of winning the election this year are Laura Chinchilla, of the National Liberation Party (PLN), and the ML's Guevara, both of whom are basing their campaigns on continuity with the present government on the one hand, and promoting change on the other.

In a few days we will know if we will have a change or not. The people of Costa Rica will decide.

Lic. Gregory Kearney Lawson
Rohrmoser