10 October 2025

World Bank forecasts for 2025 predict that Guatemala and Panama will lead Central American growth in 2025 with 3.9% GDP each. Costa Rica will be third with 3.6%, Honduras 3.5%, Nicaragua 3.1% and El Salvador with 2.5%. Countries that are included in the report due to them being part of the Central American Integration System (SICA) are the Dominican Republic which has had years of double digit growth dropping to 3% and Belize improving its GDP by 1.5%. The Dominican Republic is expected to bounce back in 2026 and 2027 to lead the region with Panama not far behind (4.3% and 4.1% respectively). Overall for the region the World Bank estimates regional economic growth as 2.3% in 2025 and 2.5% in 2026. The World Bank chief economist for the region, William Maloney expects a slight improvement in Latin America but against a more challenging global economic backdrop.

Source: Central America Briefing | Vol 13, Issue 18