Costa Rica · Government Spending · % GDP

## What this measures

Total general government expenditure, interest included, as a share of GDP.

## Why it matters

How large the state is in the economy, and how much room a budget has to cut or to grow.

## How to read it

Compare with revenue: the gap is the overall balance. Rich economies typically spend 35–55% of GDP, emerging economies 20–35%.

Each point is one year's figure in the newest World Economic Outlook, dated December 31, up to the year before the edition's own year. The IMF's projection from there is a separate series (imf.weo.*.projection). The newest year is often still an IMF estimate, and the whole history is revised with each edition (April and October).

## What it does not say

Spending through state enterprises or off-budget funds may sit outside general government. The OECD Economic Outlook, the panel's source for this measure elsewhere, does not publish it for Costa Rica, so the figures here are the IMF's and compare with other countries' OECD figures on definition but not always to the decimal.

## Source

Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026 (the IMF's published database file, WEOOct2026all.xlsx). Figures as published, rounded to at most four decimals. Provided by the IMF "as is" and available free of charge from the IMF; the IMF does not endorse Palanor.