While competitors such as Colombia, Mexico and other Latin American countries have chosen to devalue their currencies to improve their competitiveness at a time when the global economy is failing to recover, Costa Rica's export sector is lamenting the fact that added to the increase in production costs that it must face, is an appreciated exchange rate that undermines the real value of exports.

".. According to the director of the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica, Francisco Gamboa, not only is competitiveness deteriorating because of production costs, but so are the companies who are competing in the local market with imported products. 'After production costs such as electricity have increased 2.5 times in a decade, in the same period the exchange rate has appreciated in real terms by 32%, which is a severe blow to our competitiveness.' "

Crhoy.com reports that "...Francisco Llobet, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Costa Rica, said that the use of interventions in the exchange market in order to modify the real exchange rate, produces transient effects and worsens the overall situation for all economic agents. "

Source: Crhoy.com

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