The presence of offshore banks in Costa Rica has grown exponentially in recent years. Within the last three years, the total amount of funds these banks have attracted has increased by 65%. This includes money private citizens and businesses have placed in savings and checking accounts, long or short-term money market accounts, retirement plans, credit loans and other financial services.
The amount of funds collected by Costa Rica’s offshore banks exceeded $2.245 million as of September of 2007. To get some perspective on this number, just imagine that it’s equivalent to 9% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A reliable source defines GDP as “the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a given country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year).”
A bank is termed ‘offshore’ when its official business address is located outside of Costa Rica. Typically, these banks are structured this way to take advantage of tax breaks and/or other advantages in a so-called tax haven. Some of the advantages offshore banks gain by doing this are: less restrictive regulation, low (or no taxes) and protection against local political or financial instability.
No comments:
Post a Comment