by Rod Hughes

As La Nacion reported today, first it was the Norwegians, then AID, the World Bank and the friendly Canadians that decided that Costa Rica could get along without their financial gifts. Last year, the Arias Administration’s foreign policy turnabout resulted in the Taiwanese leaving. Now, the Dutch, the Swedes and the Germans are packing their bags and closing offices here.

Since 1990, Costa Rica has seen donations (known officially as “non-reimbursible financial cooperation”) drop by more than 17%, contrasted with a world figure of about 5.33%, according to figures released by the Ministry of Planning.

The country, says the newspaper, is a victim of its own success as compared with other struggling nations in the region. Despite the government’s having to make hard choices at budget time, the country carries an international reputation of having “graduated” from underdevelopment.

This is one of the reasons, reports La Nacion writer Alvin Murillo, for President Oscar Arias insisting at international forums that so-called “middle class” countries should continue to receive financial aid from industrialized nations. Of course, that is only one part of his “Costa Rican Consensus,” another being special enticement for countries to reduce arms spending.

In an interview with La Nacion, Planning Minister Roberto Gallardo said that often complex geostrategic motives govern the donations from developed nations. But one factor, he said, is visibility of results and its impact on the public mind through the media. “(Aid to Costa Rica) does not have the drama of a photo of a sack of rice in a Somalian village,” he said.