The ratings on the Republic of Costa Rica are supported by: Long-standing political stability, with stronger institutions and more general respect for the rule of law than is found in peer credits; and A highly diversified economy, with per capita GDP of US$4,964—almost twice that of the 'BB' median. The ratings are constrained by: A large, unsupervised offshore banking sector and a high level of dollar lending; Monetary policy that is constrained by the central bank's quasi-fiscal losses (exceeding 1% of GDP) and a crawling peg exchange-rate regime; and Poor external liquidity. The ratings on Costa Rica reflect improved fiscal performance and impressive GDP growth in recent years. A combination of strong GDP growth and tax collection improvements kept the
