Hernán Sáenz Jiménez

Sáenz subsequently resettled in the United States and took a position as the Executive Secretary of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC, until his retirement in 2015.

While Sáenz was Minister of Finance, Costa Rica was plagued by economic instability and social unrest. Throughout the Carazo presidency, there was a world economic recession. Oil prices were at historic highs and the value of Costa Rica's main crop, coffee, was falling. Carazo instructed the Central Bank of Costa Rica to borrow heavily in order to maintain the value of the Costa Rican colón, hoping that an economic recovery was close at hand. This policy eventually became unsustainable, leading to a catastrophic sudden devaluation in September 1980. Skyrocketing rates of inflation prompted capital flight, crippling internal business operations. In all, the national debt rose from $800 million to over $3 billion due to the government's mismanagement of the economy. As a result, in 1981 Sáenz was forced to suspend servicing Costa Rica's external debt.

Hernán Sáenz Jiménez (born 1944 in San Jose, Costa Rica) is a Costa Rican economist and lawyer, who was the Minister of Finance for the administration of President Rodrigo Carazo Odio in Costa Rica from 1979 to 1981. He served as the Executive Secretary of the Administrative Tribunal of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC from late 1987 until his retirement from the Bank in 2015.