www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I heard a rumor today that in two years or so caja prices for Americans are going quadruple--instead of being charged the same price as everyone.

I pressed the teller of the tale for a source, and he had none so I take it to be one of those wild the-sky-is-falling rumors that a lot of retired gringos seem to have nothing better to do than make up.

But it did kind of scare me. It would make sense that if Obamacare is going to make everyone pay X dollars for healthcare CR would say that's how much it would cost you here too. (Because if you're out of the U.S. for eleven months you're exempt from the ACA mandate.)

I have my head in the sand as far as hard news goes, so has anyone who follows these kind of discussions heard that any proposal like this is actually on the table?

I can tell you that my Caja payment went from $59 a month to $242 per month as a Residente Rentista over 55 as of Jan. 1st. I did become a permanent Resident and the Caja payment went down to $73. If you are over 55 and a Pensionado or Permanent resident you will not be hit to hard. But Rentista of all ages, under 55 Pensionado or investor, you are in for a real shock!

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I love the nights,
I can not remember,
with Friends,
I can not forget......

Thanks for your real world input Hobbie. Was becoming a permanent resident just a matter of waiting out your rentista status, or was that a separate application?

You have to have your temp. residence for 3 years prior to applying for permeant residence.
Both are separate applications. The original residence application took about one year to complete and the permeant residence took eight months.

_________________
I love the nights,
I can not remember,
with Friends,
I can not forget......

Thanks again! I didn't realize that's how it worked.

Is the ride over?

In the past few months, Intel and Bank of America each cut 1,500 jobs at their operations in Costa Rica...

From Bloomberg...

Citigroup Inc. cut Costa Rica’s growth forecast after Bank of America Corp. and Intel Corp. said they would fire 3,000 workers in the Central American nation following the opposition's victory in a presidential runoff.

Citi cut its growth forecast for Costa Rica’s 2014 gross domestic product to 3.1 percent from 3.5 percent, economist Jorge Pastrana wrote in a report today. The 2015 forecast was lowered to 2.2 percent from 4 percent. The yield on Costa Rica’s dollar bonds due in 2023 have climbed 23 basis points the past two days, the most since January.
“The likely slowdown in growth would lower (even more) the political incentives to undertake the much needed fiscal adjustment, thereby affecting external debt prices,” Pastrana wrote.

The firings come after President Laura Chinchilla, who wasn’t eligible for re-election, made progress in reducing unemployment that peaked at 10.5 percent in the second quarter of 2013. Joblessness in the $45 billion economy has since fallen to 8.3 percent. Nevertheless, frustration over corruption scandals involving Chinchilla’s aides undermined support for the ruling party, whose candidate withdrew from last weekend’s election.

The country of 4.7 million people climbed seven spots to 102nd in the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report this year, lagging behind China, Vietnam and Namibia. Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on Costa Rica to negative from neutral in September, citing a rising debt burden and widening budget deficit. Moody’s rates the country Baa3, putting it in the same category as Turkey and Iceland.

Costa Rica’s fiscal deficit is forecast by the government to climb to about 6 percent of gross domestic product this year from 5.4 percent last year. The country’s dollar bonds have returned 3.3 percent this year compared with 4.4 percent for emerging markets, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s EMBIG index.

My take...

An official unemployment rate of 10.5 percent last year, and currently at 8.3 percent?! As in the US, the 'books are cooked'. The actual rate is most likely double that.

And...what are all the people, including Gringos, employed in Sports Books in CR going to do as legalized gambling is being expanded, albeit rather slowly, in the US?

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)