In 2025, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.9%. Exports16.8%. Gross foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 4%, while inflation remained at 2.7%. All of this, according to the Annual Report of the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN). What the digital document, 202 pages long, does not talk about is remittances. And that the 6.2 billion dollars that according to external calculations the country received for this concept, they would represent around 27.8% of the GDP in 2025.
For Nicaraguan economist Enrique Sáenz, the omission of remittances reveals “a total disregard for the sacrifice of thousands of Nicaraguans who send part of their work and diligence to their families.”
He considers that the reason for hiding the data is that “remittances are the main pillar of the economy of families, companies and the national economy and the dictatorship’s gangs want to impose the lie on the sturdiness and prosperity of the national economy.”
The economist and former political prisoner, Juan Sebastián Chamorro, comments that in the 2025 Annual Report “they turned off that indicator (remittances). That does not mean that they are putting them at zero, but that they are hiding them.”
“It is another example of the lack of transparency and opacity of these gentlemen,” he highlights.
This omission “is another blow to the credibility of the Central Bank’s data,” he adds. Especially since “remittances have reached their zenith of economic importance, hovering – according to projections – at 30% of last year’s GDP. That they now ‘do not exist’ is inconceivable. Such an important item in the GDP, they simply stopped reporting it,” he adds.
That is the main silence. Furthermore, all the numbers published in the Report point in the direction of a buoyant and brilliant economy, which is approaching full employment, which hardly knows inflation, and which spends based on the “principles of efficiency, financial discipline and rationalization.”
This is a selection of other important topics that the document does refer to:
Economic activity
The economy grew 4.9% in 2025, which is the best performance in the last four years. According to the Annual Report, “GDP continued to expand for the fifth consecutive year, registering an increase of 4.9 percent (3.6% in 2024), driven by positive developments in most economic sectors.”
Yeah remittances played an important role In previous years, this time the BCN affirms that the growth seen in 2025 was driven “mainly by internal factors, favored by the better expectations of economic agents and the entry of external flows.” It highlights that “a level of exports was recorded that stimulated national productive performance, reflected in a increase in primary activities and industrial companies linked to the export sector.”
“The dynamism of economic activity” and the “macroeconomic stability” that the country exhibits was translated into several elements. The document highlights the stability of the labor market and low inflation. Also the growth of tax revenues; the favorable evolution of external flows, and the increase in the credit portfolio and deposits. Finally, remember that exchange rate stability is maintained; and that gross international reserves (RIB) have been strengthened.
Labor market stability
The BCN says that the labor market “continued to show favorable signs for the economy.” It ensures that the country had a low unemployment rate, and stability of formal employment, in addition to a positive evolution of salaries, both in nominal and real terms. This would be linked to the growth of economic activity and lower inflationary pressures.
The average unemployment rate was so lowwhich “stood at 2.7%.” That was 0.4 percentage points lower than the 3.1% observed in 2024. Confronted with this data, economists have expressed that this 2.7% is explained because in Nicaragua it is considered that someone had employment as long as you have worked at least one hour a week. In whatever. This technicality allows us to imagine the regime that reached an unprecedented milestone in the history of the country.
The document shows that this economy, which grew 4.9%, only created 7,825 formal jobs throughout the year. That is 0.98% more than in 2024. Commerce and the manufacturing industry were at the two extremes of the balance: while the first added 11,265 affiliates, the second reported a loss of 11,954 contributors. In the middle, the financial sector had 3,490 affiliates; transportation 2,510, and communal services, another 2,059 insured.
Inflation remains
According to the Central Bank report, if on January 1, 2023, a given good cost one hundred córdobas, at the end of 2025, the average price of that same good had grown by only 11.49%. That coincides with the evolution of the cost of the basic basket which rose 1840 córdobas (9.7%), in that same period, going from 18,982 to 20,822 córdobas.
The problem is that There are few employees who can purchase the entire basic basket. in Nicaragua. None of them are at the base of the salary pyramid used in the country. Citing data from MITRAB, the Central Bank details that salaries range from 5,950 córdobas, which are established as the minimum wage for an agricultural worker, to 13,315.60 that those who work in construction, financial establishments, and insurance must receive.
Central Government Revenue
When the General Budget of the Republic was proposed in October 2024 contained a projection of total income of 158,730 million córdobas. The reality was significant and extraordinarily better: 180,035 million were received. Since spending forecasts rose during the November budget reformbut then they fell in reality, the country registered a surplus of 29,206 million córdobas. Almost 800 million dollars.
Part of those resources went to the coffers of the BCN. Another part was used to increase the budget allocations of entities such as the National Assembly, the Supreme Court, the National Police and the Army. Also to ministries such as the Interior, Agriculture, and Health. In parallel, several items were reduced, including that of the Supreme Electoral Council, and several ministries: Energy, Environment, Transportation, Commerce, and Finance, among others.
The overcollections were possible thanks to “the implementation of inspection and control measures to prevent evasion, the use of electronic processes and the expansion of online services for taxpayers.” Also, for “the strengthening of the customs system at checkpoints in the transit of goods.” Where the regime sees “control” and “strengthening”, users denounce a system of fines, bribes and surcharges designed to extract as much money as possible from them.
External flows
Exports were the main source of foreign currency: 7,981 million dollars. The majority (5,328 million; 27.1% more than in 2024), from the sale of merchandise. The rest (2.63 billion) were free zone exports. Another 23.2 million correspond to “goods acquired in ports.”
Most of the growth in merchandise exports (1,135 million dollars) is explained by the higher prices paid by international markets. That price effect contributed an additional 944 million dollars. The remaining 191 million were due to a growth in exported volumes.
Foreign direct investment decreased 4% (3,059 million dollars in 2024, versus 3,186 million in 2024), equivalent to 13.8 percent of GDP. The investments were directed to the energy and mining, industry, finance, commerce and services sectors. The main sources were Panama (25.5% of the total), mostly for financial intermediation and energy; Barbados (17.5%), mainly mining; and the United States (13.1%), for industry, mining, commerce and services.
Finally, tourism income they grew 3.2%, totaling 527 million dollars.
Credit, deposits and international reserves
In terms of bank credit, the gross portfolio grew 12%, exceeding 238,105 million córdobas. As dizzying as that figure can be, the detail shows worrying signs: six of the seven items that make up the credit factor decreased. Only the mortgage portfolio “continued to reflect recovery in its performance (an increase of 8.3%), being the only sector that registered growth higher than that observed in 2024,” admits the BCN.
All the others (agricultural, livestock, commercial, industrial, personal and credit cards) grew less than in 2024, or simply fell into negative territory.
In the deposits section, their balance totaled 275,238 million córdobas, which is 15.2% more than in 2024. The Report highlights how the participation of the córdoba and the dollar in the composition of deposits has changed. In this regard, he explains that “the dollarization coefficient was reduced to 65.5%, continuing its downward trend compared to 67.1% in 2024, and 69.4% in 2023.”
Finally, gross international reserves totaled 8,325 million dollars. That represented an increase of 2.22 billion dollars compared to the end of 2024. That money is stored in the Central Bank of Nicaragua, and since they are reserves, by definition they cannot be used.
