Tackle Trade World - December 2022

DBW...
CENTRAL AMERICA
FACT FILE
Capital CITIES:
Belize – Belmopan
Costa Rica – San José
El Salvador – San Salvador
Guatemala – Guatemala City
Honduras – Tegucigalpa
Nicaragua – Managua
Panama – Panama City
PopulationS:
Belize – 405,272
Costa Rica – 5.094 million
El Salvador – 6.486 million
Guatemala – 16.86 million
Honduras – 9.905 million
Nicaragua – 6.625 million
Panama – 4.315 million
Official languages:
Belize – English
Costa Rica – Spanish
El Salvador – Spanish
Guatemala – Spanish
Honduras – Spanish
Nicaragua – Spanish
Panama – Spanish
CurrencIES:
Belize – Belize dollar
Costa Rica – Colón
El Salvador – US dollar
Guatemala – Quetzal
Honduras – Lempira
Nicaragua – Córdoba
Panama – Balboa/US dollar
PresidentS:
Belize – Prime Minister John Briceño
Costa Rica – Rodrigo Chaves Robles
El Salvador – Nayib Bukele
Guatemala – Alejandro Giammattei
Honduras – Xiomara Castro
Nicaragua – Daniel Ortega
Panama – Laurentino Cortizo
ECONOMY FOCUS
GDP (USD)
Belize – 1.764 billion
Costa Rica – 61.52 billion
El Salvador – 24.64
billion
Guatemala – 77.6 billion
Honduras – 23.83 billion
Nicaragua – 12.62 billion
Panama – 52.94 billion
GDP Growth rate
Belize – 9.8%
Costa Rica – 7.6%
El Salvador – 10.8%
Guatemala – 7.5%
Honduras – 12.5%
Nicaragua – 10.3%
Panama – 15.3%
GDP per capita (USD)
Belize – 4.435.62
Costa Rica – 12,076.81
El Salvador – 3,798.64
Guatemala – 4,603.34
Honduras – 2,405.73
Nicaragua – 1,905.26
Panama – 12,269.05
Top export partners:
- USA - EU - Central America
Top import partners:
- USA - Central America - China
the Pacific region. There are
hurricanes too, which can be
potentially devastating – in
the wake of Hurricane Nate
in 2005, Costa Rica alone
reported $562 million in
damages, severely crippling its
agricultural and transportation
industries.
The region’s rate of
population increase is one
of the highest in the world
and Spanish is the dominant
language of Central America,
and the official language in six
of the countries, with English
the official language of Belize.
Many Indian languages are also
spoken throughout the region.
Central America is a diverse
geographical region housing
almost 50 million people. With
a wealth of natural resources,
Central America has the
potential for sustainable and
rigorous economic growth as
it seeks to mitigate political
unrest and economic inequality.
The backbone of Central
America’s economy relies
on agricultural exports, such
as coffee, bananas, palm oil
and pineapples. For example,
agriculture comprises 24 per
cent of Costa Rica’s total GDP
and 17 per cent of Panama’s.
In 2001, agriculture employed
approximately 34 per cent of
Hondurans.
However, in 2020, the most
exported product category was
medical equipment, including
instruments and devices for
medicine, surgery, dentistry
and veterinary. The Central
American region exported a
total of $US3.1 billion worth
of these products. Bananas
came in second with a total
export value of $US2.7 billion
dollars. As a whole, Central
America’s main export
destination is the United
States.
Belize and El Salvador
contribute to Central America’s
robust tourism industry. In
Belize, tourism is the most
important economic sector in
the country next to agriculture.
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