In a report released on Tuesday, the World Bank announced the growth forecast of the Costa Rican economy for 2017, placing it at 3.9%.
This figure is lower than estimated by the Central Bank of Costa Rica in its macroeconomic program. The monetary authority expects it to be 4.1%.
According to the World Bank, the growth of the country will only be surpassed by Nicaragua (4%) and Panama (5.4%). Mexico and Central America assume that the area will grow at a rate of 2.1%, a relatively better performance than the South American countries.
In Mexico, investment is forecast to decline in 2017, due to political uncertainty in the United States, which will contribute to a small slowdown in growth, which will remain at 1.8%.
However, it is believed that in this country the private consumption will be more solid, thanks to low inflation, low unemployment, rising wages and the large flow of remittances. Weak currencies could give a competitive boost to the sub-region’s exports, despite the fact that global conditions do not lead to a strong growth in international trade.
According to the World Economic Outlook, in advanced economies growth is expected to rebound to 1.8% by 2017.
Fiscal stimulus in major economies -particularly in the United States- could lead to faster-than expected domestic and global growth, although increasing trade protection could have adverse effects.
This year, growth in all emerging markets and developing economies should recover to 4.2% with a moderate increase in basic product prices.
After years of disappointing global growth, we see hopeful better economic outlook for the future,”
said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group.