style="font-size:15px;"> Social Christian Unity Party (PUSC), Rafael Angel CALDERON Fournier;Marxist Popular Vanguard Party (PVP), Humberto VARGAS Carbonell;
New Republic Movement (MNR), Sergio Erick ARDON Ramirez;
Progressive Party (PP), Isaac Felipe AZOFEIFA Bolanos;
People's Party of Costa Rica (PPC), Lenin ChACON Vargas;
Radical Democratic Party (PRD), Juan Jose ECHEVERRIA Brealey
_#_Suffrage: universal and compulsory at age 18
_#_Elections:
President—last held 4 February 1990 (next to be held February
1994);
results—Rafael Angel CALDERON Fournier 51%, Carlos Manuel
CASTILLO 47%;
Legislative Assembly—last held 4 February 1990 (next to be held February 1994); results—percent of vote by party NA; seats—(57 total) PUSC 29, PLN 25, PVP/PPC 1, regional parties 2
_#_Communists: 7,500 members and sympathizers
_#_Other political or pressure groups: Costa Rican Confederation of Democratic Workers (CCTD; Liberation Party affiliate), Confederated Union of Workers (CUT; Communist Party affiliate), Authentic Confederation of Democratic Workers (CATD; Communist Party affiliate), Chamber of Coffee Growers, National Association for Economic Development (ANFE), Free Costa Rica Movement (MCRL; rightwing militants), National Association of Educators (ANDE)
_#_Member of: AG (observer), BCIE, CACM, ECLAC, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT,
INTERPOL, IOC, IOM, ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer), LORCS, NAM (observer),
OAS, OPANAL, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Gonzalo FACIO Segreda; Chancery at Suite 211, 1825 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 234–2945 through 2947; there are Costa Rican Consulates General at Albuquerque, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico), and Tampa, and Consulates in Austin, Buffalo, Honolulu, and Raleigh;
US—Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Robert O. HOMME; Embassy at Pavas Road, San Jose (mailing address is APO Miami 34020); telephone [506] 20–39-39
_#_Flag: five horizontal bands of blue (top), white, red (double width), white, and blue with the coat of arms in a white disk on the hoist side of the red band
_*Economy #_Overview: In 1990 the economy grew at an estimated 3.5% rate, a decrease from the strong 5.0% gain of the previous year. Gains in agricultural production (on the strength of good coffee and banana crops) and in construction, were partially offset by lower rates of growth for industry. In 1990 consumer prices rose by about 25% and the trade deficit widened. Unemployment is officially reported at 6%, but much underemployment remains. External debt, on a per capita basis, is among the world's highest.
_#_GDP: $5.5 billion, per capita $1,810; real growth rate 3.6% (1990)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 25% (1990 est.)
_#_Unemployment rate: 6% (1990)
_#_Budget: revenues $831 million; expenditures $1.08 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1990 est.)
_#_Exports: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1990);
commodities—coffee, bananas, textiles, sugar;
partners—US 75%, FRG, Guatemala, Netherlands, UK, Japan
_#_Imports: $1.8 billion (c.i.f., 1990);
commodities—petroleum, machinery, consumer durables, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs;
partners—US 35%, Japan, Guatemala, FRG
_#_External debt: $4.5 billion (1989)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 2.3% (1990 est.); accounts for 23% of GDP
_#_Electricity: 927,000 kW capacity; 2,987 million kWh produced, 980 kWh per capita (1990)
_#_Industries: food processing, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 20–25% of GDP and 70% of exports; cash commodities—coffee, beef, bananas, sugar; other food crops include corn, rice, beans, potatoes; normally self-sufficient in food except for grain; depletion of forest resources resulting in lower timber output
_#_Illicit drugs: illicit production of cannabis on small scattered plots; transshipment country for cocaine from South America
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70–89), $1.4 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970–88), $781 million; Communist countries (1971–88), $27 million
_#_Currency: Costa Rican colon (plural—colones); 1 Costa Rican colon (C) = 100 centimos
_#_Exchange rates: Costa Rican colones (C) per US$1—105.82 (January 1991), 91.58 (1990), 81.504 (1989), 75.805 (1988), 62.776 (1987), 55.986 (1986), 50.453 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: calendar year
_*Communications #_Railroads: 950 km total, all 1.067-meter gauge; 260 km electrified
_#_Highways: 15,400 km total; 7,030 km paved, 7,010 km gravel, 1,360 km unimproved earth
_#_Inland waterways: about 730 km, seasonally navigable
_#_Pipelines: refined products, 176 km
_#_Ports: Puerto Limon, Caldera, Golfito, Moin, Puntarenas
_#_Merchant marine: 12 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,831 GRT/4,506 DWT
_#_Civil air: 9 major transport aircraft
_#_Airports: 173 total, 159 usable; 26 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 11 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: very good domestic telephone service; 292,000 telephones; connection into Central American Microwave System; stations—71 AM, no FM, 18 TV, 13 shortwave; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT earth station
_*Defense Forces #_Branches: Civil Guard, Rural Assistance Guard; note—Constitution prohibits armed forces
_#_Manpower availability: males 15–49, 807,853; 545,541 fit for military service; 32,149 reach military age (18) annually
_#Defense expenditures: $20 million, 0.4% of GDP (1988) % @Cuba *Geography #_Total area: 110,860 km2; land area: 110,860 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than Pennsylvania
_#_Land boundary: 29.1 km with US Naval Base at Guantanamo;
