CABEI ratifies its commitment to transparency and publishes a contract and information related to consultancy on "luxury pensions" in Costa Rica
• CABEI obtained authorization from the supplier in charge of a preliminary study carried out in 2022 to make the contract, terms of reference, and addendum public.
San José, March 4, 2024.- As a clear and conclusive demonstration of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration's (CABEI) commitment to transparency, and in line with the extraordinary declassification process initiated in December 2023 to disclose the records of the contracts related to the US$1 million Non-Reimbursable Financial Cooperation granted to Costa Rica, CABEI published the “Request for an Advisory Opinion to the State of Costa Rica on the Compatibility of the Bill for the Adjustment of the Amount of Luxury Pensions, for the State to Consult the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR Court)" contract.
In order to materialize the declassification of this document so that it would be categorized as public, as well as the addendum and terms of reference, and in line with the contractual commitments acquired by CABEI with the supplier, the Bank arranged for its authorization.
In order to carry out this consultancy, an exhaustive evaluation of credentials was carried out, and the renowned jurists, former presidents of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Carlos Ayala was selected as consultant, as well as Claudio Grossman and Juan Méndez as expert reviewers. However, due to delays in obtaining the necessary actuarial information from the State, the contract had to be modified and adjusted to be executed in stages, of which only the first stage was completed.
To continue with the next stage, CABEI recently approved a Non-Reimbursable Financial Cooperation to Costa Rica for up to US$100,000,000 for the preparation of the actuarial study to complete the consultancy. The results are expected to be ready in the last quarter of 2024.
The ultimate goal of this initiative is to support Costa Rica in correcting a structural budget problem, which undermines the viability of the national pension system due to the progressive creation and expansion of a parallel system of "luxury pensions" that benefits certain groups of authorities and civil servants who enjoy disproportionately higher pensions compared to the rest of the pensions.
