New Healthcare research report from Business Monitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

Boston, MA -- (SBWire) -- 12/10/2013 --Despite the delicate macroeconomic situation in Central America, the pharmaceutical market -consisting of the seven markets of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Belize - is set to grow. Local authorities' emphasis on healthcare investment should translate into higher consumption of medicines. However, the region's low per capita pharmaceutical spending and generic drugs' high market share has limited multinationals' growth potential in the region.

Headline Expenditure Projections

- Pharmaceuticals: US$3.5bn in 2012 to US$3.7bn in 2013; +4.9%. Our forecast has been revised slightly upwards since Q413 due to more optimistic macroeconomic data.
- Healthcare: US$15.4bn in 2012 to US$16.6bn in 2013; +8.1 %. Our forecast has been revised upwards since Q413 due to more optimistic macroeconomic data.

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Risk/Reward Ratings: In BMI's Q114 Pharmaceutical Risk/Reward Ratings (RRRs), the Americas scores 67 out of 100, below the Western Europe region (67), Central and Eastern Europe (52), the Asia Pacific (52) and above the Middle East and Africa (42) region. Of the seven Central American countries surveyed in BMI's RRRs Panama ranks first, followed by Costa Rica (40.8), Guatemala (37.6), El Salvador (37), Belize (36.9), Honduras (32.6) and Nicaragua (32.3).

Key Trends And Developments

- In August 2013, Costa Rica's public health system inaugurated a new centre worth US$18mn. The new facility is situated in one of the major hospitals in San Jose and was inaugurated by Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla.
- In August 2013, the Costa Rican social security administration (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, CCSS) saved US$1.5mn in annual pharmaceutical procurement through the Council of Ministers of Health from Central America and Dominican Republic (COMISCA).
- In July 2013, Honduras planned to allocate a US$50mn loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve its health services, especially in rural areas. The IDB financing consists of a 30-year term US$35mn loan from ordinary capital, with a grace period of five-and-a-half years and an interest rate based on LIBOR. The remaining US$15mn is from the Fund for Special Operations, with a 40-year term and grace period and 0.25% interest rate. The program aims to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health (SESAL) and improve its efficiency and quality of services. The government plans to double the number of beneficiaries by 2015.
- In July 2013, Kielsa Pharmaceutical, a Honduran pharmacy chain, opened its first pharmacy in Managua, Nicaragua. It offers products at prices up to 50% lower than those from local pharmacies and plans to open ten large pharmacies in Managua in its first year and generate US$80mn in sales annually from Nicaragua.

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