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Country Snapshot - Costa Rica  

HighlightsRankingsQuantitative DataLegislationAnalytical WorkProject Portfolio
  • Latin America & Caribbean
  • Upper middle income
  • 4,639,827 (2011)
  • 6,580
Costa Rica Flag
Below are select highlights for the data included in the profile.

  1. In Doing Business 2011, Costa Rica is ranked 125th out of 183 economies, slightly lower than last year.
  2. According to the latest Enterprise Surveys (2010), the top constraints to investment in Costa Rica include Access to Finance and Practices of the Informal Sector. Among the firms surveyed, the great majority of them (70.36%) report competing with unregistered or informal firms (compared with 66.13% for the region) while 56.8% of them report having a loan or line of credit from a financial institution.
  3. Costa Rican legislation provides for equal treatment of domestic and foreign investors with respect to ownership of local companies. As a result, most of the industry sectors covered by the Investing Across Sectors indicators are fully open to foreign equity ownership. As a notable exception, foreign capital participation in the electricity sector is restricted.
  4. The Index of Economic Freedom 2011 scored Costa Rica’s at 67.3, making its economy the 49th freest out of 183 in the 2011 Index. Its overall score is 1.4 points higher than last year, reflecting small increases in five of the 10 economic freedoms. Costa Rica is ranked 9th out of 29 countries in the South and Central America/Caribbean region, and its overall score is higher than the global and regional averages. Following the recent years of economic contraction, Costa Rica’s economic rebound has gained some momentum and become more broad-based. The trade regime is more open, and management of public finances is sound. Costa Rica has taken measures to improve financial-sector freedom by consolidating private banks, easing procedures for the operations of foreign banks, and introducing a new development bank structure. However, lingering government bureaucracy continues to discourage dynamic entrepreneurial activity, and privatization and fiscal reform have slowed. The court system, while transparent and not corrupt, remains inefficient, and enforcement is weak.