Costa Rica: Economic Outline

Economic Indicators

Costa Rica has kept a GDP's growth of 4% in 2011. The country tends to diversify its economy by offering manufactured products. Exports of high added-value, such as electronic components and medical equipment stimulate foreign trade. Costa Rica is a country of impressive biodiversity and a popular tourist destination.

In order to face the recession that the country is going through, the government asked the IMF for aid and signed a stand-by agreement in April 2009. The plan aims to stabilize the economy, to limit the tax deficit and to avoid too much pressure on the balance of payments.

Thanks to the establishment of a welfare state 60 years ago, the country has succeeded to strongly reduce poverty and it has one of the best social indicators in the area. The extreme poverty rate is limited to 7%, life expectancy is 79 years, the literacy rate is 96%, the GDP per capita is USD 5,627 and the social security system covers more than 80% of the population. Nevertheless, inequalities are increasing and the education beyond the elementary level is insufficient. A fiscal reform and a reduction of taxes should boost again the country's revenues. The new president, Laura Chincilla, is committed to work on the problems of insecurity and drug trade. In 2020, the country aims to become the first zero-carbon economy.

Main Indicators	2009	2010	2011	2012 (e)	2013 (e)
GDP (billions USD)	29.24	35.79e	40.02	43.84	47.66
GDP (Constant Prices, Annual % Change)	-1.3	4.2	4.0	4.1	4.4
GDP per Capita (USD)	6,488	7,701e	8,489	9,167	9,832
General Government Gross Debt (in % of GDP)	27.4	29.6e	32.7	33.3	34.0
Inflation Rate (%)	7.8	5.7e	5.3e	6.8	6.5
Current Account (billions USD)	-0.58	-1.44e	-1.97e	-2.25	-2.49
Current Account (in % of GDP)	-2.0	-4.0	-4.9	-5.2	-

Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database - Last Available Data.

Note: (e) Estimated Data

Monetary Indicators	2008	2009	2010
Foreign Debt (million USD)	9,189	8,070	-
Costa Rican Colon (CRC) - Average Annual Exchange Rate For 1 USD	526.24	573.29	525.83

Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.

Find out all the exchange rates daily on our service Currency convertor.

Main Sectors of Industry

Breakdown of Economic Activity By Sector	Agriculture	Industry	Services
Employment By Sector (in % of Total Employment)	12.3	21.6	65.5
Value Added (in % of GDP)	7.1	27.4	65.5
Value Added (Annual % Change)	3.0	4.0	17.7

Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.

Socio-Demographic Indicators	2011	2012 (e)	2013 (e)
Unemployment Rate (%)	6.5	6.1	5.7

Source: World Bank - Last Available Data

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The Active Population in Figures

	2010
Labor Force	2,170,000

Source: CIA - The world factbook

	2009	2010
Total activity rate	-	62.70%
Men activity rate	79.90%	-
Women activity rate	45.10%	-

Source: UN - United Nations

Indicator of Economic Freedom

Score:: 67.3/100
Position:: Moderately free
World Rank:: 46/179
Regional Rank:: 7/26

Distribution of Economic freedom in the world
Source: 2011 Index of Economic freedom, Heritage Foundation

Note: The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.

Country Risk

See the Country Risk Analysis Provided By Ducroire.

Indicator of Political Freedom

Ranking:: Free
Political Freedom:: 1/7
Civil Liberties:: 1/7

Map of freedom 2010
Source: Freedom House

Note: The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

World Rank:: 19/179
Evolution:: 10 places up compared to 2010

Source: Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011, Reporters Without Borders

Note: The world rankings, published annually, measures the violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position is assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire sent to partner organizations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and activists of human rights, including the main criteria - 44 in total - to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

Sources of General Economic Information

Main Online Newspapers and Portals: Costarica.com
Infocostarica
CentralAmerica.com, Costa Rica
Einnews, Costa Rica news

Useful Resources: Ministry of Finance
Ministry of economy, industry and commerce
Central Bank

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