The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation has approved $350 million in financing that will allow National City Bank to expand its lending in emerging markets, with a focus on making housing construction loans in the nations of the U.S.-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement.

The corporation is an agency of the U.S. government that helps foster economic development in emerging markets, in part by working with the U.S. private sector to help U.S. businesses invest overseas and manage risks associated with foreign direct investment. It provides insurance against loss due to political reasons overseas.

Of the $350 million in financing that the agency will extend to the Cleveland, Ohio,-based National City Bank as part of a lending framework agreement, 60 percent will support small and medium-sized businesses and residential mortgages in Latin America, and in Central and Eastern Europe.  About $100 million will be used for housing construction loans for low- and middle-income housing construction loans, with a special emphasis on El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Robert Mosbacher Jr., president of the agency, applauded the framework agreement, particularly the emphasis on free trade pact countries.

Environmental groups that oppose mining and drilling for oil are making their voices heard because they expect that President Óscar Arias Sánchez might favor those projects more than did Abel Pacheco.

The Unión Norte por la Vida and the Frente Oposición a la Minería in San Carlos said that it was preparing a letter with thousands of signatures asking Arias to maintain a moratorium on mining.

Oilwatch said it was getting ready for a big fight because it believes that the Arias administration and  Roberto Dobles, the new minister of Ambiente y Energía, might not maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling.

Costa Rica’s Sala IV suspended the contract with Harken Petroleum in late 2001. When Abel Pacheco took over as president he declared a moratorium and provided no help for Harken to bring its offshore exploratory operation into judicial compliance.

Harken is preparing to hail Costa Rica into international arbitration to collect on anticipated profits.

Since Pacheco declared the moratorium world oil prices have soared putting into question the decision.

The mining moratorium issued at the same time did not cover two companies that already had operations under way. One at Miramar has not reached production. A second project in northern Costa Rica near the Río San Juan is approaching production.

Flu shots are available at both Hospital CIMA and Clinica Biblica for less than 5,000 colons, about $10.

Clinica Biblica has the Vaxigrip brand for 3,700 colones  for adults and 3,325 for children 3 years and older. The San José hospital charges 1,000 colons to administer the injection.

In the pharmacy of Hospital CIMA Fluarix brand is available. The cost for adults and children is 4,745 colons. Children under 3 can take a half dose of this vaccine. CIMA staffers will apply the vaccine for free at the vaccination center Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., they said.

Those vaccines are designed for the A and B type of influenza and recommended for people over 60 years of age, people with low immune defenses. Shots are not recommended for children under 6 months.

A flu shot is also recommended once a year for persons who have respiratory problems or diseases.

Of the approximately 1,400 students who will graduate from Universidad Nacional (UNA), in Heredia, north of San José, this month, 242 are from two of the poorest regions in the country, according to a statement from the university: the indigenous reserves of Chorotega, in the northwestern Guanacaste province and Brunca, in southern Costa Rica.

Yesterday and today, graduation ceremonies are being held in Liberia and Nicoya, in Guanacaste, at which 52 students from the Chorotega indigenous reserve are receiving diplomas. 190 students from the Brunca reserve, in the Southern Zone, also graduated earlier this month.

Of UNA’s 1,400 graduates, 240 received degrees in science, 293 received liberal arts degrees, 295 received degrees in education and 314 received social science degrees, according to the statement.

-Tico Times

Representatives of hotels in the Central Pacific beach towns of Manuel Antonio and Quepos recently met to discuss water conservation techniques for the area, which continually faces water shortages, at a conference organized by the Central American Biomass Users Network (BUN-CA), according to a statement from the organization.

An increase in tourists to the area during the dry season resulted in periods with no water available, said BUN-CA consultant Agustín Rodríguez.

“This lack of water affects the development of the hotels’ normal activities, and, on many occasions, hotels have had to contract trucks to bring in water from other areas,” Rodríguez said.

Twenty representatives from the area attended the workshop, entitled “Good and Efficient Practices in the Use of Water Resources” and learned conservation strategies such as using low-consumption toilets and showers. Treating and recycling pool water rather than draining it was another suggestion made.

Data obtained at the seminar indicates that some hotels pay more than $2,000 per month for water, another reason to make conservation efforts, Rodríguez said.

The seminar was part of BUN-CA’s Energy Efficiency in the Tourism Sector Program. Hotels that participate in the program qualify for a Certificate of Sustainable Tourism from the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), the statement said.

-Tico Times 

By Amanda Roberson - Tico Times Staff