Costa Rica: Economic activity decelerates in March

In March, annual growth in economic activity decelerated to 3.1% from an upwardly revised 3.2% expansion in February (previously reported: +3.0% year-on-year), according to the monthly index of economic activity (IMAE, Indice Mensual de Actividad Económica) published by the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR).

March’s slowdown in growth came amid a year-on-year contraction in the mining and quarrying sector and a stagnant construction sector. On the other hand, the information and communication, and transportation and storage sectors both recorded strong expansions in March.

In month-on-month terms, the economic activity growth rate remained steady at February’s 0.2% in March. Meanwhile, year-on-year average growth was also unchanged from February in March, holding at 2.9%.

Costa Rica GDP Forecast

The BCCR expects the economy to expand 3.6% in 2018 and 3.9% in 2019. FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect GDP growth to reach 3.5% in 2018, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. In 2019, our panelists expect GDP growth to come in at 3.6%.