Costa Rica experienced a record-setting 3.3% plunge in prices in August, the most significant deflation since records began in the 1970s. The Costa Rican colon has rallied 22% YoY in September, making it the strongest among more than 140 currencies tracked by Bloomberg. This rally, bolstered by robust exports and reduced fiscal deficit, led to slashed costs for imported goods like gasoline, food, and mobile phones. Costa Rica’s central bank was the first in Latin America to cut interest rates this year, lowering its policy rate by 2.5 pp to 6.5%.