Caribbean & Central America - March 2014 (ISSN 1741-4458

Trade balance: According to a 21 February press release by Nicaragua’s central bank, Nicaragua’s exports totalled US$2.4bn in 2013, while imports reached US$5.6bn, leaving a trade deficit of US$2.8bn, US$77m more than in 2012.

Tourism: On 6 March Nicaragua’s export agency, Pro Nicaragua, reported that the tourism sector is expected to grow 6.5% in 2014, generating some US$440m in revenue. According to Pro Nicaragua, the national tourism board (Intur) has approved US$46m for tourism development projects in 2014, with plans to approve a total of US$100m in projects by year end. According to the same press release, these projects will generate around 1,580 jobs during the construction phase and more than 581 permanent jobs when the projects are completed.

Inflation: According to a 6 March press release by Nicaragua’s central bank, monthly inflation for February reached 0.66%, slightly higher than the 0.61% recorded in February 2013. This brings the accumulated 2014 rate to 1.39% (down from 1.80% for the first two months of 2013) and the year-on-year rate to 5.25%, lower than the 7.08% the reported at this point last year.