Costa Rica

BMI View: Costa Rica's bid to secure membership of the DR-CAFTA agreement with the US suffered yet another setback in September, meaning that a final resolution by the October 1 deadline... 2008-09-22

Costa Rica's trade balance took a battering in the first seven months of 2008. According to central bank data, the deficit widened by 96.6% y-o-y between January and July to US$3.3bn,... 2008-09-05

BMI View: Costa Rica is falling into a stagflationary trap. Rapid monetary supply growth - coupled with deeply negative real interest rates - has stoked non-tradable inflation, and... 2008-08-20

Costa Rica's Housing Minister, Fernando Zumbado, announced that he was temporarily leaving his post in July amid an ongoing investigation into the alleged misuse of ministry funds.... 2008-07-30

BMI View: Worsening terms of trade, falling confidence in the local economic outlook, an FDI contraction (by 28% y-o-y in Q108 to US$441.7mn), and central bank intervention continue... 2008-07-30

BMI View: The positive outlook awarded by Standard & Poor's (S&P) on Costa Rica's 'BB+' long-term credit rating is testament to the Arias administration's track record of... 2008-07-23

BMI View: Faced with mounting energy bills and shrinking popular support, an increasing number of Central American and Caribbean governments have turned to Venezuelan leader Hugo... 2008-07-22