There are over 35,000 public employees who are over-indebted and receiving under the minimum wage after all the deductions to creditors. The most affected are workers with loans from Caja de Ande, Banco Mutual, cooperatives and Banco Popular.
The Treasury is to guarantee that they receive at least the minimum wage, stopping the automatic deductions of money from their salaries at that point. The minimum wage is ₡190,377 (About $325)per month.
As of 2020, all officials of the Central Government, Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Legislative Assembly, Comptroller General of the Republic and Ombudsman’s Office will have access to the minimum wage regardless of how much debt they have.
This is part of the Government’s plan to address high indebtedness of Costa Ricans. It could, however, have a negative effect on the financial institutions which gave credit under a plan where they could recuperate it automatically from the salary and may now not have a way to collect it.
