Costa Rica News
-
COSTA RICA, 2016/01/16
Consumer prices increased 0.19% in December over the previous month, which contrasted November’s 0.01% decrease. According to the Statistical Institute, the print reflected an increase in half of the twelve components of the index, with food and non-alcoholic beverages recording the strongest rise.
Consumer prices fell 0.8% in annual terms in December, which marked an development from November’s 1.2% drop and the sixth consecutive monthly decline. The six consecutive drops in annual consumer prices not only reflect subdued prices for commodities, but as well methodological changes in the calculation of the price index as the Statistical Institute recently changed the base month to June 2015. Meanwhile, annual average inflation dipped down from 1.3% in November to 0.8% in December and marked the lowest reading on record.
-
COSTA RICA, 2016/01/16
In November, economic activity expanded 3.6% over the same month last year, according to the monthly index of economic activity (IMAE, Indice Mensual de Actividad Economica). November’s figure was slightly up from October’s 3.1% reading and marked the best result since June 2014. In November, the major gains were recorded in the service sector and in the manufacturing sector, which is showing signs of recovery.
Compared to the previous month, economic activity expanded 0.56%, which was marginally above the 0.53% increase recorded in October. November’s print marked the strongest expansion since January 2012. Meanwhile, annual average increase in economic activity remained stable in November at October’s 2.5%.
-
AFGHANISTAN, 2016/01/02
World economic increase will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has as well deteriorated, the chief of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday.
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide.
Added to that, increase in world trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material prices is posing problems for economies based on these, while the financial sector in a lot of nations still has weaknesses and financial risks are rising in emerging markets, she said.
-
COSTA RICA, 2015/04/04
Costa Rica has reached an environmental milestone by using only renewable energy to generate power for at least the initial 75 days of the year, a record for any country.
The Central American country, which has long boasted of its green credentials on energy policy, was able to achieve the milestone thanks to heavy rain in the initial three months of the year.
Around four-fifths of its electricity supply comes from hydro-electric power, which was boosted by rainfall at four major dams.
-
AFGHANISTAN, 2015/01/20
Low oil prices will not provide a sufficient updraught to dispel the clouds hanging over the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.
In a sign of its increasing gloom about the medium term economic outlook, the IMF cut its world economic increase forecasts by 0.3 % points for both 2015 and 2016, despite believing cheaper oil represents a “shot in the arm”.
-
AFGHANISTAN, 2015/01/20
The richest 1 % are likely to control additional than half of the globe’s total wealth by next year, the charity Oxfam reported in a study released on Monday. The warning about deepening world inequality comes just as the world’s business elite prepare to meet this week at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The 80 wealthiest people in the world all own $1.9 trillion, the statement found, nearly the same all shared by the 3.5 billion people who occupy the bottom half of the world’s gain scale. (Last year, it took 85 billionaires to equal that figure.) And the richest 1 % of the people, who number in the millions, control nearly half of the world’s total wealth, a share that is as well increasing.
-
COSTA RICA, 2013/03/22
A group of experts from the Center for Water Resources in Central America and the Caribbean (Hidrocec), at the National University (UNA), are studying how much water is consumed by Costa Rica’s agricultural sector, the country’s top consumer of the resource.“In Costa Rica, government officials prioritize short-term development that puts at risk what’s most important for the country’s development: water and land,” experts say.
-
ARGENTINA, 2013/03/13
While Panama's banks held their lead as the biggest banks in Central America, Nicaragua steamed ahead in terms of return on capital and return on assets. HSBC remains the leader of The Banker’s Central American rankings with a Tier 1 capital up by 8.38% to $1.23bn in 2011, the last available financial year.
-
COSTA RICA, 2013/01/17
The number of visitors who come to Costa Rica for medical treatment will reach 40,000 this year, an increase of a third in just three years.
-
COSTA RICA, 2013/01/17
Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla has proposed a series of strategies to tackle a surge in investment which threaten to appreciate the country's currency, the colon, and destabilize the economy.
