Costa Rica - Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average)

The value for Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average) in Costa Rica was 620.78 as of 2021. As the graph below shows, over the past 61 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 620.78 in 2021 and a minimum value of 5.62 in 1960.

Definition: Official exchange rate refers to the exchange rate determined by national authorities or to the rate determined in the legally sanctioned exchange market. It is calculated as an annual average based on monthly averages (local currency units relative to the U.S. dollar).

Source: International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics.

See also:

Year Value
1960 5.62
1961 5.95
1962 6.63
1963 6.63
1964 6.63
1965 6.63
1966 6.63
1967 6.63
1968 6.63
1969 6.63
1970 6.63
1971 6.63
1972 6.64
1973 6.65
1974 7.93
1975 8.57
1976 8.57
1977 8.57
1978 8.57
1979 8.57
1980 8.57
1981 21.76
1982 37.41
1983 41.09
1984 44.53
1985 50.45
1986 55.99
1987 62.78
1988 75.80
1989 81.50
1990 91.58
1991 122.43
1992 134.51
1993 142.17
1994 157.07
1995 179.73
1996 207.69
1997 232.60
1998 257.23
1999 285.68
2000 308.19
2001 328.87
2002 359.82
2003 398.66
2004 437.94
2005 477.79
2006 511.30
2007 516.62
2008 526.24
2009 573.29
2010 525.83
2011 505.66
2012 502.90
2013 499.77
2014 538.32
2015 534.57
2016 544.74
2017 567.51
2018 576.97
2019 587.29
2020 584.90
2021 620.78

Development Relevance: In a market-based economy, household, producer, and government choices about resource allocation are influenced by relative prices, including the real exchange rate, real wages, real interest rates, and other prices in the economy. Relative prices also largely reflect these agents' choices. Thus relative prices convey vital information about the interaction of economic agents in an economy and with the rest of the world.

Limitations and Exceptions: Official or market exchange rates are often used to convert economic statistics in local currencies to a common currency in order to make comparisons across countries. Since market rates reflect at best the relative prices of tradable goods, the volume of goods and services that a U.S. dollar buys in the United States may not correspond to what a U.S. dollar converted to another country's currency at the official exchange rate would buy in that country, particularly when nontradable goods and services account for a significant share of a country's output. An alternative exchange rate - the purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor - is preferred because it reflects differences in price levels for both tradable and nontradable goods and services and therefore provides a more meaningful comparison of real output.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another. Official exchange rates and exchange rate arrangements are established by governments. Other exchange rates recognized by governments include market rates, which are determined largely by legal market forces, and for countries with multiple exchange arrangements, principal rates, secondary rates, and tertiary rates.

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Financial Sector Indicators

Sub-Topic: Exchange rates & prices