Economy - overview: Costa Rica's basically stable economy depends on tourism, agriculture, and electronics exports. Poverty has been substantially reduced over the past 15 years, and a strong social safety net has been put into place. Foreign investors remain attracted by the country's political stability and high education levels, and tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange. However, traditional export sectors have not kept pace. Low coffee prices and an overabundance of bananas have hurt the agricultural sector. The government continues to grapple with its large deficit and massive internal debt and with the need to modernize the state-owned electricity and telecommunications sector.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $25 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,700 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 12.5%
industry: 30.7%
services: 56.8% (1999)

Population below poverty line: 20.6% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.3%
highest 10%: 34.7% (1996)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 1.9 million (1999)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 20%, industry 22%, services 58% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 5.2% (2000 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.95 billion
expenditures: $2.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

Industries: microprocessors, food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products

Industrial production growth rate: 4.3% (2000)

Electricity - production: 5.805 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 2.41%
hydro: 83.32%
nuclear: 0%
other: 14.27% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 5.303 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 165 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 69 million kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: coffee, pineapples, bananas, sugar, corn, rice, beans, potatoes; beef; timber

Exports: $6.1 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: coffee, bananas, sugar; pineapples; textiles, electronic components, medical equipment

Exports - partners: US 54.1%, EU 21.3%, Central America 8.6% (1999)

Imports: $5.9 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: raw materials, consumer goods, capital equipment, petroleum

Imports - partners: US 56.4%, EU 9%, Mexico 5.4%, Japan 4.7%, (1999)

Debt - external: $4.2 billion (2000 est.)

Currency: Costa Rican colon (CRC)

Currency code: CRC

Exchange rates: Costa Rican colones per US dollar - 318.95 (2001), 308.19 (2000), 285.68 (1999), 257.23 (1998), 232.60 (1997), 207.69 (1996)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Costa Rica on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Costa Rica Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Costa Rica Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.