Costa Rica: Economic activity growth slows in November for sixth month running
Working-day adjusted annual growth in economic activity slowed to 1.9% in November from 2.1% in October, representing the lowest growth rate since December 2013. This is according to the monthly index of economic activity (IMAE, Indice Mensual de Actividad Económica) published by the Central Bank of Costa Rica.
Growth in November was weighed on by contractions in the mining and quarrying, trade, and education and healthcare sectors. On the other hand, economic activity was supported by the growing construction sector, which continued to recover from a downturn in 2017, although its rate of expansion slowed for the third consecutive month in November and hit the lowest since April 2018. In addition, robust growth readings were recorded in the ICT and financial sectors.
In month-on-month terms when adjusted for working days, economic activity increased 0.2% in November, up from 0.1% in October. Year-on-year annual average growth slowed to 2.8% in November from 2.9% in October.