Government
in Central America
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Salvadoran Presidential Secretariat has presented a draft Law on Public-Private Partnerships to the Legislative Assembly.
A press release from the President of El Salvador states that:
“The Technical Secretariat of the Presidency presented this week a draft Law on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a tool to enhance public and private investment, generating growth and economic development in El Salvador.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
UEM experience includes designing new plants as well as renovating and expanding older ones for municipalities from compact water and wastewater sewage treatment plants, to full scale large plants.
Drinking Water Treatment plants include from Aquifer, Reservoir, Desalination and Sewage Treatment plants for small and large facilities.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Streamlining business registration and reducing costs are the main goals of the next Guatemalan Minister of Economy and his team.
Sergio de la Torre, a Guatemalan businessman and the new finance minister, introduced his team, made up of people associated with the private sector in that nation.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Poverty in Costa Rica has not fallen below 20% in two decades, confirming the validity of the adage "instead of giving fish, teach people to fish."
The liberal idea that instead of supporting the poor with large and ineffective welfare programs, it is better to give them the means to improve their lives themselves, remains in force, and a good example of the ineffectiveness of the welfarism practiced by the traditional political class is the "bloated welfare state" of Costa Rica, argues Juan Carlos Hidalgo, project coordinator for Latin America at the Cato Institute.
Monday, January 9, 2012
From 1st January reforms to the current income tax have come into force, affecting declarations filed in 2013, which correspond to 2012 revenues.
Reporters Daniel Trujillo and Velasco Sury writing for the newspaper El Mundo, explain the main changes introduced by the reform.
1. Income exempt from payment
Employees with monthly incomes of less than or equal to $503.01, without discounts, no longer have to pay tax.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Before the end of 2012 the largest contributors are required to issue electronic invoices according to the disposition of the Guatemalan Tax Administration.
The obligation extends to companies that emit more than 1 million invoices per year. Gradually those with between 1501 and 3,000 a year will be incorporated . The process ends in March 2013 with the addition of issuers of between 0 and 500 invoices per year.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
This is a record in the history of the country, representing an almost 80% increase compared to expenditures in 2010 and three times the average of the last five years.
A press release from the Inter-American Development Bank reads:
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The highest percentage of external debt is with multilateral organizations; to the IADB alone $2,192 million are owed.
Of the total debt, 39% corresponds to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 24% to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), 19% to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), and the rest to others.
Friday, December 16, 2011
The National Economic Council has approved a loan agreement between the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the International Construction Bank, designed to improve fiscal management.
A press release from the Ministry of Economy and Finance reads:
The National Economic Council (CENA) has approved a loan agreement for up to B/.100.000.000.00 million ($100 million), between the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the International Construction Bank (BIRF), aimed at improving fiscal management and efficiency in public spending.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The budget approved by the National Congress represents an increase of 8.5% compared to 2011.
The increase in the budget ($ 582 million) is destined almost exclusively to cover increases in teachers salaries.
The departments which have been designated the most resources are Education with $1,227 million, Health $563 million, Interior $199 million, and Security $184 million.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The Apostille Convention, an instrument that streamlines the procedures for the legalization of foreign public documents, is now in effect.
A press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica reads:
With an event held at the Golden Hall of the Foreign Ministry, Costa Rica today put into effect the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, called the "Apostille Convention” which is a milestone in terms of simplification of procedures for the legalization of foreign public documents.
Friday, December 9, 2011
50 specialists discussed in Costa Rica the future of planning and development in Latin America in the seminar "Visions of the Country: Social Dialogue and Democratic Strengthening "
A press release from the Foundation for Peace and Democracy reads:
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
With $115 million, Panama City will have for next year, the largest budget in its history.
For the first time the town of Panama City will have available $115 million for investment and maintenance works during 2012.
The budget, which is $23 million more than that of 2011, includes improvements to parks, renovation works at the Marañón gym, and the creation of a television channel, among other things.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
A new report by the initiative CoST Guatemala recommends reforms to the website Guatecompras to force all agencies to publish requirements for public procurement.
A press release from the Initiative CoST reads:
The initiative CoST Guatemala, composed of representatives from government, private sector and civil society, presented the results of their analysis of 13 projects to build public infrastructure in Guatemala. From this analysis, Guatemala CoST recommends changes to Guatecompras, implementing procedures to increase transparency in the procurement of emergency works and ensure that management works are not undertaken by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
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