According to the last survey on business opinion from the Institute for Research in Economics at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), 57.4% of exporters believe that the stable exchange rate will benefit them. 23.4% believe it will be detrimental for them and 19.2% say it will not affect them.
Entrepreneurs said that an increase in the exchange rate harms the competitiveness of their businesses because they purchase raw materials abroad in dollars and sell them locally in colones. There is also the fact that some of them have loans or rents to pay in colones. Therefore, the rise in the currency negatively affects their finances.
The researcher Gabriela González, said they also found a large number of companies that do not export but sell their products or services in the country in dollars, so a rise in the exchange rate actually benefits them.
The number of entrepreneurs who believe that the exchange rate will remain stable in all productive sectors is approximately 47%.
This projection is consistent with the review of the macroeconomic program released by the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR), which shows a relative stability of macro-prices (inflation, exchange rates, interest rates and wages) despite the risks of the rising public debt (60.4% of GDP in June 2016).