The Costa Rican Economy

Desequilibrios financieros golpean economía costarricense
Nacion have more about the financial situation in Costa Rica. This confirms what I've heard from others in the know in the past.
There is now a very serious fear that Costa Rica will go the way of Argentina. The governments estimates for the year 2002 is a deficit of %5.4 of the GDP, which is around 2% more than last year.
The public debt internal and external stands at US$8 billion for a country of 4 million inhabitants.
The internal debt of roughly US$5 billion is eating up %40 of the budget.
Other figures are 20% of the population below the poverty line, around 7% unemployment rate (which doesnt sound too bad) and an inflation of 10%.
However the government still hasnt come to any real agreements of reforms. Costa Rica has historically had a very strong democracy and has been held up as a model of a central american Social Democratic state.
It appears that years of spending and big government is now costing them dearly. We'll wait and see what happens.