OECD Economic Surveys [electronic resource].
Publishing, OECD.
Paris : OECD Publishing,
2016.
Description based upon print version of record.
Table of contents; Basic Statistics of Costa Rica, 2014 ; Executive summary; Main challenges-Key recommendations; Assessment and recommendations; Figure 1. Costa Rica's economic, social and environmental track record is strong; Figure 2. Well-being indicators are comparable with OECD average; Figure 3. Life satisfaction is high; Table 1. Key indicators; Recent macroeconomic development and short term prospects; The economy is recovering from a sharp slowdown; Figure 4. The crisis has left lingering effects; Table 2. Macroeconomic indicators and projections
Box 1. Main vulnerabilities surrounding Costa Rican economy's prospectsThe government has proposed a wide-ranging tax reform to start tackling fiscal problems; Figure 5. The fiscal outlook is challenging; Figure 6. Fiscal revenue in Costa Rica is lower than in OECD countries; Figure 7. The tax reform will raise the progressivity of the personal income tax by little; Public employment reform is urgent to control the public sector wage bill; Figure 8. Public employment is low and the wage bill high; Figure 9. The public-private sector wage gap is large
Overhauling the Costa Rican fiscal policy frameworkFigure 10. The public sector of Costa Rica is highly fragmented; Table 3. Costa Rica's central government budget is excessively rigid; Public debt is rising; Figure 11. Debt sustainability hinges on fiscal reform; Monetary policy is moving towards inflation targeting but financial dollarisation remains high; Figure 12. The transition towards inflation targeting has lowered the exchange rate pass-through; Figure 13. Central bank's interventions lower foreign exchange rate volatility
Figure 14. Exchange rate expectations have been stable and financial dollarisation is still highFigure 15. Banks' capital-to-asset ratios are higher than in peer countries; Promoting inclusive and sustainable growth in Costa Rica; Figure 16. Inequality is rising; Table 4. Relative contribution of each source of income to total inequality; Figure 17. Transfers in-kind reduce inequality; Table 5. Distribution of beneficiaries of social programmes by income quintile; Making the labour market more inclusive; Figure 18. Unemployment is high and hits the poor hard
Figure 19. Female labour market participation is lowFigure 20. Informal employment is increasing; Figure 21. Employer social security contributions are high; Improving the quality of education; Figure 22. Spending on education is high but outcomes are low; Figure 23. PISA scores can be improved; Increasing efficiency in the health system; Figure 24. Out-of-pocket spending is high and increasing despite high health spending; Boosting potential output growth and productivity while protecting the environment; Sustaining environmental protection to reinforce the green trademark
Figure 25. The high share of renewable in electricity contributes to low emissions per capita