CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN COSTA RICA COSTS US$790 MILLION PER YEAR: WORLD BANK REPORT

San Jose, April 11- Costa Rica spends about us$790 million annually as a result of crime and violence, says a report from the World Bank (WB), to be presented today in Washington D. C. The document entitled "Crime and Violence in Central America: a challenge for development", seeks to go beyond the social impact and find ways to quantify the problem, in their quest to warn the governments of the region.

The study was conducted at the request of the Governments of the Isthmus, who are concerned about the situation, explained Rodrigo Serrano and Lorena Cohan, two of the authors.

According to the report, Costa Rica budgets us$325 million annually in health (medical care, lost production and emotional damage). Another us 221 million going to public safety and judicial administration and us 150 million is spent on private security, which includes homes and businesses.

The report, used data collected in 2009, an estimated additional us$94 million is spent in materials or transfers.

Costa Rica is second in the least of costs in the region for the crime and violence (Nicaragua annually allocates us$529 million), according to the document.

That does not mean that is not "very serious" for all countries, said Serrano.

The report will be presented to members of the Central American Integration System (SICA) presidents at a meeting in June. It will be one of the inputs for decision making at the SICA, said Serrano.

BM researchers also placed a figure to the years of life lost as a result of crime and violence, premature death or disability. In the case of Costa Rica it was measured at us$96 million, according to a methodology of the World Health Organization (WTO).

The number for Costa Rica is less than the us 271 million. El Salvador is the largest in the region, but again, the authors warn of the danger of increasing this problem across the Isthmus.

Serrano and Cohan said that spending on public and private security throughout Central America reaches 8% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Annual economic growth would rise between 0.3% and 1%, by country, from a 10% reduction in the homicide rate, according to the report.

A consult of employers in the region, in 2009, of the five main constraints to productivity and growth in all countries except Costa Rica, they mentioned it was crime, followed by in order of priority, access to finance, macroeconomic instability, informal competition, corruption and taxes.

The sources indicated the fragility of the social problem, drug trafficking and the high volume of weapons in the hands of the population.

se sitúan en niveles no vistos desde 2008.

<