The Central Bank of Costa Rica reported that its Monthly Index of Economic Activity (IMAE) grew 2.4% year over year in September 2026, based on the trend cycle series. Growth was 2.8 percentage points lower than in September 2025. Firms operating under the definitive regime drove almost all of the expansion, while special regimes recorded substantially weaker growth.
Output in the definitive regime rose 3.3%, an acceleration of 0.4 percentage points from September 2025, and accounted for 96% of total IMAE growth. Residential and nonresidential construction supported the expansion, alongside education and health services. Professional and administrative services, together with trade in food, hardware and pharmaceutical products, also contributed.
Special regimes grew 0.6%, a slowdown of 13.6 percentage points from September 2025, and contributed 4% of overall growth. Their annual growth rate nevertheless increased by 0.6 percentage points between August and September, ending 12 consecutive months of deceleration. This turning point reflected temporary shocks affecting the comparison base, as explained in previous reports.