WASHINGTON, May 19, 2004 – The World Bank Group’s Board of Directors yesterday discussed the institution’s new Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Costa Rica, with project and investment loans likely to total $218 million between 2004 and 2007, in addition to knowledge sharing and advisory services.

“The objective of this Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) is to support Costa Rica’s efforts to continue its record of equitable economic growth and improvements in social indicators, and its leadership in environmental  management,” said Jane Armitage, the World Bank’s Country Director for Central America. “The CPS is focused on mutually beneficial activities that allow the Bank to learn from Costa Rica’s rich and successful  experience in areas that are central to the Bank’s mission of poverty reduction, while helping Costa Rica improve the quality and impact of public programs in key sectors, and enhance its competitiveness in an increasingly integrated global economy.”

The four-year CPS will target investments in education, water and sanitation, environment, infrastructure, agriculture, and information and communications technologies. In addition, the Bank will provide knowledge-sharing and advisory services in the areas of public sector debt management, domestic debt market development, financial sector reform, management of international reserves, and public-private partnerships  in infrastructure.

The Bank will also prepare a study on the country’s investment climate and regional studies on key issues for Costa Rica and Central America as a whole. Forthcoming regional studies will address the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), trade facilitation and logistics, the drivers of rural growth, and shocks and social protection.

The World Bank’s strategy aims to support Costa Rica’s growth while building on its progress in social welfare. In the 1990s, the Costa Rican economy grew by an average of five percent while its poverty rate fell substantially from 31.9 percent in 1991 to 20.6 percent in 2000.  The country has achieved the millennium development goals for reducing extreme poverty by half and promoting gender equality, and is on track to achieve or surpass other development goals by 2015.

The CPS was developed after consultation with government officials, as well as representatives from a broad spectrum of Costa Rican society. A CPS consultation workshop held on January 27 in San Jose drew input from around 50 representatives of organizations including trade unions, business chambers, NGOs, research centers, academic institutions,  community organizations, environmental organizations, as well as indigenous and afro-descendant organizations. 

For more information on the World Bank’s work in the Latin America and Caribbean region, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/lac