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san jose administrative divisions: 7 provinces (provincias. singular - provincia); alajuela. cartago. guanacaste. heredia. limon. puntarenas. san jose independence: 15 september 1821 (from spain) national holiday: independence day. 15 september (1821) constitution: 7 november 1949 legal system: based on spanish civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts in the supreme court; has accepted compulsory icj jurisdiction suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory executive branch: chief of state: president abel pacheco (since 8 may 2002); first vice president lineth saborio (since 8 may 2002); second vice president (vacant); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: president abel pacheco (since 8 may 2002); first vice president lineth saborio (since 8 may 2002); second vice president (vacant); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government cabinet: cabinet selected by the president elections: president and vice presidents elected on the same ticket by popular vote for four-year terms; election last held 3 february 2002; run-off election held 7 april 2002 (next to be held 5 february 2006) election results: abel pacheco elected president; percent of vote - abel pacheco (pusc) 58%; rolando araya (pln) 42% legislative branch: unicameral legislative assembly or asamblea legislativa (57 seats; members are elected by direct. popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: last held 3 february 2002 (next to be held 5 february 2006) election results: percent of vote by party - na%; seats by party - pusc 19. pln 17. pac 14. pml 6. prc 1; note - seats by party as of january 2005 - pusc 19. pln 16. pac 8. pml 5. prc 1. patriotic union 3. homeland first 1. authentic member from heredia 1. democratic national alliance 1. independent 2 judicial branch: supreme court or corte suprema (22 justices are elected for eight-year terms by the legislative assembly) political parties and leaders: authentic member from heredia [jose salas]; citizen action party or pac [otton solis]; costa rican renovation party or prc [gerardo justo orozco alvarez]; democratic force party or pfd [vladimir de la cruz]; general union party or pugen [carlos alberto fernandez vega]; homeland first or pp [juan jose vargas fallas]; independent worker party or pio [jose alberto cubero carmona]; libertarian movement party or pml [otto guevara guth]; national christian alliance party or anc [juan carlos chavez mora]; national integration party or pin [walter munoz cespedes]; national liberation party or pln [francisco antonio pacheco]; national patriotic party or ppn [daniel enrique reynolds vargas]; national restoration party or prn [carlos avendano]; nationalist democratic alliance or adn [jose miguel villalobos umana]; patriotic union or up [humberto arce salas]; social christian unity party or pusc [lorena vasquez badilla]; union for change party or upc [antonio alvarez desanti]; united leftist coalition or iu [humberto vargas carbonel] political pressure groups and leaders: authentic confederation of democratic workers or catd (communist party affiliate); chamber of coffee growers; confederated union of workers or cut (communist party affiliate); costa rican confederation of democratic workers or cctd (liberation party affiliate); federation of public service workers or ftsp; national association for economic development or anfe; national association of educators or ande; rerum novarum or ctrn (pln affiliate) [gilbert brown] international organization participation: bcie. cacm. fao. g-77. iadb. iaea. ibrd. icao. icc. icct. icftu. icrm. ida. ifad. ifc. ifrcs. ilo. imf. imo. interpol. ioc. iom. iso. itu. laes. laia (observer). miga. nam (observer). oas. opanal. opcw. pca. rg. un. unctad. unesco. unido. upu. wcl. wco. wftu. who. wipo. wmo. wtoo. wto diplomatic representation in the us: chief of mission: ambassador tomas duenas chancery: 2114 s street nw. washington. dc 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 234-2945 fax: [1] (202) 265-4795 consulate(s) general: atlanta. chicago. hammond (temporary location in louisiana). houston. los angeles. miami. new york. san juan (puerto rico). tampa (temporarily closed). and washington dc consulate(s): san francisco diplomatic representation from the us: chief of mission: ambassador mark langdale embassy: calle 120 avenida o. pavas. san jose mailing address: apo aa 34020 telephone: [506] 519-2000 fax: [506] 519-2305 flag description: five horizontal bands of blue (top). white. red (double width). white. and blue. with the coat of arms in a white elliptical disk on the hoist side of the red band; above the coat of arms a light blue ribbon contains the words. america central. and just below it near the top of the coat of arms is a white ribbon with the words. republica costa rica economy - overview: costa rica's basically stable economy depends on tourism. agriculture. and electronics exports. poverty has been substantially reduced over the past 15 years. and a strong social safety net has been put into place. foreign investors remain attracted by the country's political stability and high education levels. and tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange. low prices for coffee and bananas have hurt the agricultural sector. the government continues to grapple with its large internal and external deficits and sizable internal debt. the reduction of inflation remains a difficult problem because of rises in the price of imports. labor market rigidities. and fiscal deficits. the country also needs to reform its tax system and its pattern of public expenditure. costa rica is the only signatory to the us-central american free trade agreement (cafta) that has not ratified it. cafta implementation would result in economic reforms and an improved investment climate. gdp (purchasing power parity): $40.32 billion (2005 est.) gdp (official exchange rate): $19.81 billion (2005 est.) gdp - real growth rate: 3.2% (2005 est.) gdp - per capita: purchasing power parity - $10.000 (2005 est.) gdp - composition by sector: agriculture: 8.6% industry: 28.3% services: 63.1% (2005 est.) labor force: 1.82 million (2005 est.) labor force - by occupation: agriculture 20%. industry 22%. services 58% (1999 est.) unemployment rate: 6.6% (2005 est.) population below poverty line: 18% (2004 est.) household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.1% highest 10%: 36.8% (2002) distribution of family income - gini index: 46.5 (2000) inflation rate (consumer prices): 13.8% (2005 est.) investment (gross fixed): 18% of gdp (2005 est.) budget: revenues: $2.722 billion expenditures: $3.195 billion. including capital expenditures of na (2005 est.) public debt: 56.2% of gdp (2005 est.) agriculture - products: coffee. pineapples. bananas. sugar. corn. rice. beans. potatoes; beef; timber industries: microprocessors. food processing. textiles and clothing. construction materials. fertilizer. plastic products industrial production growth rate: 2.6% (2005 est.) electricity - production: 7.726 billion kwh (2003) electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 1.5% hydro: 81.9% nuclear: 0% other: 16.6% (2001) electricity - consumption: 7.12 billion kwh (2003) electricity - exports: 115 million kwh (2003) electricity - imports: 50 million kwh (2003) oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2003) oil - consumption: 40.000 bbl/day (2003 est.) oil - exports: na (2001) oil - imports: na (2001) current account balance: $-1.179 billion (2005 est.) exports: $7.005 billion (2005 est.) exports - partners: us 46.9%. netherlands 5.3%. guatemala 4.4% (2004) imports: $9.69 billion (2005 est.) imports - partners: us 46.1%. japan 5.9%. mexico 5.1%. brazil 4.2% (2004) reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $2.208 billion (2005 est.) debt - external: $3.633 billion (30 june 2005 est.) currency (code): costa rican colon (crc) currency code: crc exchange rates: costa rican colones per us dollar - 479.28 (2005). 437.91 (2004). 398.66 (2003). 359.82 (2002). 328.87 (2001) fiscal year: calendar year telephones - main lines in use: 1.132 million (2002) telephones - mobile cellular: 528.047 (2002) telephone system: general assessment: good domestic telephone service in terms of breadth of coverage; restricted cellular telephone service domestic: point-to-point and point-to-multi-point microwave. fiber-optic. and coaxial cable link rural areas; internet service is available international: country code - 506; connected to central american microwave system; satellite earth stations - 2 intelsat (atlantic ocean); two submarine cables (1999) radio broadcast stations: am 65. fm 51. shortwave 19 (2002) radios: 980.000 (1997) television broadcast stations: 20 (plus 43 repeaters) (2002) televisions: 525.000 (1997) internet country code: .cr internet hosts: 10.826 (2003) internet service providers (isps): 3 (of which only one is legal) (2000) internet users: 800.000 (2002) airports: 149 (2004 est.) airports - with paved runways: total: 31 2.438 to 3.047 m: 2 1.524 to 2.437 m: 2 914 to 1.523 m: 18 under 914 m: 9 (2005 est.) airports - with unpaved runways: total: 125 914 to 1.523 m: 25 under 914 m: 100 (2005 est.) pipelines: refined products 242 km (2004) railways: total: 278 km narrow gauge: 278 km 1.067-m gauge (2004) roadways: total: 35.889 km paved: 8.075 km unpaved: 27.814 km (2003) waterways: 730 km (seasonally navigable by small craft) (2004) merchant marine: total: 2 ships (1.000 grt or over) 1.716 grt/ dwt by type: passenger/cargo 2 (2005) ports and terminals: caldera. puerto limon military branches: no regular military forces; ministry of public security. government. and police military service age and obligation: 18 years of age (2004) manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 997.690 (2005 est.) manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 829.874 (2005 est.) manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 41.097 (2005 est.) military expenditures - dollar figure: $64.2 million (2004) military expenditures - percent of gdp: 0.4% (2003) disputes - international: legal dispute over navigational rights of rio san juan on the border with nicaragua remains unresolved illicit drugs: transshipment country for cocaine and heroin from south america; illicit production of cannabis on small. scattered plots; domestic cocaine consumption. particularly crack cocaine. is rising
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