Caribbean & Central America - June 2007 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The central bank noted that the índice Mensual de Actividad Económica (IMAE), was up by 7.1%, year-on-year, for the first two months of 2007. This was only marginally slower than the growth rate in the final two quarters of 2006: 7.8% and 7.5%, respectively. The dark cloud was the February growth figure which at 6.8%, was the weakest for two year. The February figure was the result of sluggish exports from free zones.  

What was particularly impressive was the 11% growth in manufacturing output in February. Agriculture also made a solid start to 2007. Output in the first two months was 10.9% up on the same period of 2006. The main reason for this was surging exports of pineapples (up 18%); bananas (up 15%); coffee (up 20%) and flowers and ornamental plants (up 19%).  

Exports: In the first quarter of 2007 exports came to US$$2.21bn, up 11% on the same period of 2006. The biggest growth was in food and manufactured exports: the former were up by 40% and the latter by 13%. In March the biggest single export was micro-processors. These represent 22% of the country's total exports. The surge in demand for microprocessors from Lenovo in China converted China into Costa Rica's second biggest export market after the US.  

Inflation: In May inflation was 1.04%, much the same as April's 0.9%. This brought the rate for the first five months of the year to 4.06%. The rate for the past 12 months is 9.2%, down from 2006's 9.8%.