Caribbean & Central America - March 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The IMF claims that the country has benefited from its macro-economic advice. Growth in 2005 was best in Central America, at over 4%. Inflation was comparatively, for the region at least, low at 7.7% and the fiscal deficit has come down from 5.2% in 2002 to 2.5% of GDP. The government expects inflation to fall again in 2006 and expects the macro-economy to remain stable. The previous government managed to control current spending without stinting on investment. Wages, especially, were tightly controlled.

Inflation: Inflation in January was 0.4%, unchanged from December 2005. the rate for the past 12 months was 7.3%, down slightly on calendar 2005's 7.7%