Public Services in Costa Rica under the Impact of Macroeconomic and Fiscalist Policies

Abstract

Costa Rica was able to develop the main public utilities’s supply in accordance with good quality standards and fair price conditions to all consumers regardless of their financial capacity, thanks to the institutional structure originally established in the 1949 Constitution. Since the final eigthies this essential supply has been seriously affected by macroeconomic and fiscal policies. For that important reason the country could not adequately obtain or develop the infrastructure and public utilities since their financing, building and operation was so restricted. one of the main characteristics of public utilities is that their prices and rates must compulsorily comply with the principle of down-to-cost services. but in the case of fuel prices this principle was not enforced so we witness excessive profits by the publicly owned enterprise in charge of this utility.