Between February 2020 and Easter Week, visits to shops decreased between 40% and 90% in Central American countries, but since April 13 a change in the trend has been observed, reflecting a greater movement of people to shops and other businesses.  Panama saw a 83% drop but that was due to very strict quarantine regulations.

According to the “Information System for the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 on Business“, prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, Costa Rica is the country with the most pronounced change in trend, since as of April 12th the reported drop in physical visits to stores was 79%, while on April 17th the reported reduction was 57% from the levels prior to the health crisis.

This change in the trend in the movement of people to sales points in Costa Rica is clearly seen in the graph (see blue line).

In the case of Guatemala (red line in the figure), there is also a slight change in the trend, but not as significant as in Costa Rica. In Guatemala, it went from -69% on April 13 to -63% on April 17. In Honduras (light blue line), there is no significant change in the trend.

This analysis of population mobility in the Central American countries is part of the “Information System for the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 on Business“, a tool with data from each sector and short and medium term forecasts for the sales of each market and product in the coming months.