In Costa Rica, the year-on-year growth of 4.2% reported up to June is mainly due to the recovery of the construction sector, a phenomenon that has been observed in the data since March 2018.
In June, the country's economic activity, measured by the cycle trend of the Monthly Index of Economic Activity (IMAE), showed a year-on-year growth of 4.2%. For the first semester of 2018, the average rate of change was 3.6%, while the accumulated rate for the last 12 months was 3.1%, reported the Central Bank of Costa Rica.
In June of this year, the IMAE in Honduras registered an interannual increase of almost 4%, explained for the third consecutive month by the activities of Financial Intermediation, Insurance and Pension Funds, and the Manufacturing Industry.
From a report issued by the Central Bank of Honduras:
In line with the trend seen since last year, in July 2018, the Confidence Index of Economic Activity in Guatemala fell by 33% with respect to the same month in 2017.
The latest EconomicExpectations Survey prepared by Banco de Guatemala forecasts an inflationary rhythm of 4.19% for July, 4.22% for August and 4.36% for September 2018.As for December 2018 and 2019, the Panel foresees an inflationary rhythm of 4.45% and 4.43%, in that order.In addition, for a horizon of 12 and 24 months (July 2019 and July 2020), the Panel forecasts an inflationary rhythm of 4.26% and 4.36%, respectively.
In Costa Rica, the productive activity of agricultural goods destined for domestic consumption has been stayed low in recent years, despite the fact that most benefit from the protection afforded by the tariffs imposed on imports of some similar goods.
Businessmen in Costa Rica recognize the importance of the fiscal reform needed by the country, but they are calling on the Alvarado administration to pay attention to equally complex problems, such as unemployment and high production costs.
The business sector has taken stock of the first 100 days of the government of Carlos Alvarado, and in a discussion outlined the urgent challenges facing the country, such as how to achieve economic reactivation, advancing a proposed teleworking law, promoting dual training and investing in improving road infrastructure.
The activities that contributed the most to the accumulated growth in the first six months of the year were Construction, Commerce, Local Manufacturing, and Transportation and Storage.
Preliminary figures of the Monthly Indicator of Economic Activity (IMAE) at the end of June reveal that the Dominican economy has maintained the dynamism seen since the last quarter of 2017, registering a year-on-year expansion of 7.3% during the month of June, which places growth for the period January-June 2018 at 6.7%, according to information from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
Explained by decreases in production and sales volumes, in June of this year the Monthly Index of Manufacturing Activity registered a decrease of 16% compared to May 2018.
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) reported that the Monthly Index of Manufacturing Activity (IMAM) fell sharply in June, going from 66.5 in May to55.6 in June.This is the lowest level in the last five months, although it still remains above the 50.0 barrier.
In the first six months of the year, the country received $725 million in remittances from abroad, which is a 9% increase compared to the same period in 2017.
The Central Bank of Nicaragua reported that remittances totaled 115.2 million dollars in June (US $111.1 million in June 2017), which meant an increase of 3.7 percent.
Due to the crisis affecting Nicaragua and paralysis of construction in Panama between April and May, the IMF has reduced the expectation of economic growth for the Central American region from 4% to 3.3%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut growth forecasts for the Central American economy, due to the uncertainty caused by the situation in Nicaragua and its effect on the region's economic activity, and the impact of the construction strike in Panama, which has halted works on 260 projects nationwide for the last 30 days.
According to the Central Bank, Costa Rica's economy could grow 3.2% this year, less than was initially expected, and the fiscal deficit could reach 7.2% of GDP.
In its revision of the Macroeconomic Program 2018-2019, the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) foresees that this year's GDP growth will be 3.2%, below what was estimated in the Program presented at the beginning of the year, when the monetary authority projected growth of 3.6% at the end of the year.
After registering average increases of almost 4% in the first four months of the year, during May the IMAE reported a weak increase of 0.76% compared to the same month in 2017.
From a statement issued by the General Comptroller of the Republic:
The IMAE registered an interannual increase of 3.7%, explained for the second consecutive month by the activities of Financial Intermediation, Insurance and Pension Funds, and the Manufacturing Industry.
From a report issued by the Central Bank of Honduras:
Between January and June 2018, family remittance flows sent from abroad totaled almost $2.7 billion, registering a 9% increase compared to the same period in the previous year.
El Salvador received US $2.6886 billion in family remittances up to June 2018, surpassing the US $229.2 million sent by Salvadorans living abroad in the first half of last year.In June alone, US $461 million was received in remittances, which means an increase of 11.2% compared to the same month in the previous year, reported the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).
During May, economic activity registered a negative year-on-year change of 4.9%, mainly explained by the crisis that the country has been experiencing since mid-April.
After a slowdown in the Monthly Index of Economic Activity in April, a change of -4.9% was reported in May compared to the same month last year.Average annual growth was 2.6% and the variation accumulated up to the month of May was 0.9%.
During the first three months of the year Nicaragua's annual GDP growth was 2.3%, well below the 7.7% increase reported in the same period in 2017.
As of March 2018, the Nicaraguan economy achieved year-on-year growth of 2.3% and 3.5% in annual average terms, reported the Central Bank of Nicaragua.
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