Summary (English)

This study provides an overview of the main problems facing the Costa Rican Government's poverty reduction programmes, with particular emphasis on the management of resources. In particular, it provides a detailed analysis of a specific programme, the Non-Contributory Scheme for Basic Pensions –also known as the Non-Contributory Pension Scheme–(the NCP Scheme, the Programme) which is administered by the Social Insurance Fund of Costa Rica (CCSS).

The main problems facing the NCP Scheme fall into two categories: financing, and management. The granting of pensions to persons who do not require assistance, since they do not qualify as "poor", together with the failure on the part of the respective authorities to make timely and complete transfers of resources, which by law belong to the Scheme, limit the real prospects of the programme for broadening its effective coverage and increasing the amount of the pensions it grants.

In spite of this, some estimates presented in the study indicate that 15 per cent of all NCP beneficiaries are able to reduce their level of poverty thanks to the pension they receive.
Likewise, 62 out of every 100 colones spent on these pensions have a positive effect in terms of narrowing the poverty gap for the beneficiary and his or her family. On the other hand, almost 45% of the country's elderly poor does not receive any pension at all.

The basic recommendations proposed revolve around three core aspects: strengthening the scheme's finances, improving beneficiary selection processes, and lastly, possibly modifying the manner in which pensions are calculated so as to provide proportionally greater amounts to persons living the furthest below the poverty line.

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