Costa Rica is a country with a variety of resources at its disposal which can be used for its economic development. Traditionally, its economy was based on agriculture production. This type of production is very costly and its productivity is marginal, given the resource allocation of land and labor. Additionally, the products are not high value added products, so the profit margin is small and with high growth limitations. To date, Costa Rica’s GDP is $19,380,000,000.00 and the GDP per capita is $ 4.193.00. Poverty is still a problem, along with maintaining a steady growing level of meaningful employment. Inflation based on the CPI was 12.4% at the end of the first semester of 2006. This has been a decrease from the rate reported for December 2005 of 14.1% As in most countries, the Central Bank controls inflation with the use of monetary and exchange rate policies. The first half of 2006 has presented a growth in the economy, due to added demand of products both internal and externally.
From an internal perspective, there is great uncertainty because of the pending approval of the DR-CAFTA agreement. According to Congressman Federico Malavassi , the DR-CAFTA Agreement must go through all the committee and Plenary discussion process. Additionally, Congress must review the Amended Schedule of modifications presented by the Advisors. In the best of all cases, his best estimate is that Congress will be taking final vote on the Agreement in the first semester of 2007.
Costa Rica’s economy is comprised of a variety of industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, technological services, financial services, construction, and tourism. For the first semester of th ...