NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) June 10, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook on the Republic of Costa Rica to stable from negative. Standard&Poor's also said that it affirmed its 'BB+' long-term local currency and 'BB' long-term foreign currency ratings on Costa Rica. "The revised outlook is the result of improved fiscal management over the last year," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Richard Francis. "It also assumes passage of fiscal reform that is expected to yield up to 2% of GDP in further revenues in 2006, bringing the overall general government deficit to about 2.5%." The general government deficit was 3.5% in 2004, down from 4.3% in 2003 and more than
