Exports from Costa Rica will end 2017 with an 8% growth. The expansion has been driven in greater magnitude by its main trading partners: the United States and the European Union. However, the dynamism of shipments to China and the rest of Asia, which grew 63% and 41%, respectively, also stands out.
This is highlighted in the report Estimates of Trade Trends in Latin America and the Caribbean released Monday by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). According to the study, Costa Rica was the only Central American economy that recorded a significant positive contribution from exports through the Special Regimes of Commerce (REC), which grew by 11% and accounted for two thirds of the total expansion.
On the other hand, shipments under the general regime increased by 5%. The items that contributed the most to the increase in external sales were medicine and orthopedic instruments and devices.
Estimates of exports from Latin America and the Caribbean to December 2017 were made with data available as of December 4th, 2017, and were based on the assumption that the commercial trends observed during the year would continue until the end of 2017.
For Costa Rica, the data used correspond to the period January-September. The IDB figures match to a large extent with those of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), which registered $ 8,090 million more compared to the results of a year ago. This would be the best growth figure of the last six years.