On June 4, 2007, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BB' long-term foreign, 'BB+' long-term local, and 'B' short-term currency sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Costa Rica. The outlook on the long-term rating is stable. The ratings on Costa Rica reflect good economic growth and rising tax revenue in 2007, modestly reducing the government's debt burden. Growth could exceed 6%, helping to cut the general government debt burden to around 36% of GDP in 2007, down from 49% in 2003 (Standard&Poor's excludes the social security system's holdings of sovereign debt in calculating the debt burden). GDP growth averaged above 6% over the past four years, and is likely to remain around 5% over the medium
