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 - $31.9 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 0.3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $8,500 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 11%
industry: 37%
services: 52% (2000)

Population below poverty line 20.6% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 1.7%
highest 10%: 34.6% (2001)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 45.9 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 12.1% (2001 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: $1.91 billion
expenditures: $2.35 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.)

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

Industrial production growth rate -2.1% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 6.887 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 1.15%
hydro: 82.56%
other: 16.29% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 5.895 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 532 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 22 million kWh (2000)

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

Exports $5 billion (2001)

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

Exports - partners US 51.8%, EU 20%, Central America 10.6%, Puerto Rico 2.8%, Mexico 1.7% (2000)

Imports $6.5 billion (2001)

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

Imports - partners US 53.2%, EU 10.3%, Mexico 6.2%, Venezuela 5.3%, Central America 4.9% (2000)

Debt - external $4.6 billion (2001 est.)

Currency Costa Rican colon (CRC)

Currency code CRC

Exchange rates Costa Rican colones per US dollar - 343.08 (January 2002), 328.87 (2001), 308.19 (2000), 285.68 (1999), 257.23 (1998), 232.60 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Costa Rica on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Costa Rica Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Costa Rica Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.