The government was initially reluctant to agree to the bond issue because some of the ICE's financial statements were deemed to be inaccurate.
Economy minister Jorge Walter Bolaños resigned from his post over the matter. The central bank agreed to the issue after the ICE promised to cut its projected deficit this year by US$50m, to US$58m, and to erase the deficit altogether by 2004.
Local commentators have argued that the bond demand was merely a cover story and that ICE directors promoted a strike by the workforce to show the government its willingness to flex its muscles ahead of the final stages of the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement (US-Cafta).
It is no secret that the US has brought pressure to bear on the Pacheco administration to free up the telecommunications market under the Cafta.
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