The Central Bank of Costa Rica published its February 2026 Monthly Index of Economic Activity (IMAE), reporting 4.7% year-on-year growth in national production on the IMAE trend-cycle series, an acceleration of 0.2 percentage points compared with February 2025. Activity in the definitive regime (RD) rose 3.8%, while special regimes (RE) increased 6.7%. The RD accounted for 72.5% of the IMAE increase, with its 3.8% growth exceeding February 2025 by 1.3 percentage points; construction and services including education, health, financial, insurance, professional, administrative and commerce activities explained 63.2% of RD growth. RE contributed 27.5% to the IMAE increase, with manufacturing explaining 67.0% of RE growth despite decelerating by 11.3 percentage points versus the prior year (from 17.8% year-on-year in February 2025); the moderation was attributed mainly to base effects from exceptional 2025 growth for these firms (14.4% on average), which may persist through the rest of 2026. Within RE, professional and administrative services contributed 22.3% of the variation, information technology services grew 7.6% year-on-year and contributed 10.8%, and real estate activities made a negative contribution of 0.1%.
Central Bank of Costa Rica 2026-04-10
Central Bank of Costa Rica reports 4.7% year-on-year growth in the Monthly Index of Economic Activity in February 2026
The Central Bank of Costa Rica reported that its Monthly Index of Economic Activity rose 4.7% year-on-year in February 2026 on the trend-cycle series, 0.2 percentage points above February 2025. The definitive regime drove 72.5% of the increase with 3.8% growth, mainly from construction and services, while special regimes grew 6.7%, led by manufacturing despite deceleration due to 2025 base effects, with contributions from professional, administrative and information technology services and a slight drag from real estate.