Economy
Costa Rica, like many Latin American countries, is experiencing tough economic times as the year 2020 comes to an end. Unemployment is at 25% (Our last report here was 24.4%), and many businesses have been forced to close down, of which most never to reopen. COVID-19 hit the country hard beginning in March, and lots of individuals were caught unprepared. Many people had already taken out loans fro...
As of today, Friday, December 18, 2020 services such as Uber, Didi, Disney+, Expedia, Booking, Despegar, Aplaudir.com among others will have to add the 13% charge corresponding to the Value Added Tax (VAT), confirmed the Ministry of Treasury in Costa Rica. The list of websites is listed in the Ministry’s site hacienda.go.cr, new providers can be and will be included as needed and with three da...
The paper money banknote that circulates the most in Costa Rica is the “rojo”, the red 1,000c note worth almost $2.00. Two years ago Costa Rica began making the rojo out of plastic substrate, in order to prolong its life and make it recyclable. In 2021, all Tico folding money will be made out of plastic, except the 50,000c note, which is being phased out of circulation. The rojo has won internatio...
This Monday, November 2nd the National Insurance Institute (INS) began charging the 2020 Marchamo, the vehicle’s circulation permit, similar to the registration payment in the United States; this tax must be paid by December 31st for the 2021 period, otherwise, drivers risk getting a ticket and will have to pay a late fee. There is a total of 1,568,375 vehicles registered in the country. Tak...
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), the number of poor homes in Costa Rica reached 419,783 through June 2020, a 26.2% of the total, this is the highest percentage since 1992 when that percentage reached 29.4%, and a rise of 5.2 percentual points in comparison to 2019. As of July 2019, the number of homes living in poverty was estimated in 335,895; however, une...
The Costa Rica Central Bank (BCCR) published this September 24, 2020, the first fixed limit to the commission paid by commerce for the use of the point of sale terminal to accept debit and credit cards as a form of payment, the same was established at 2.5%. Charity organizations, transport services regulated by ARESEP, and service stations will pay a maximum 1.5% commission This new commissi...
According to a report published in SemanarioUniversidad.com prices of medicines in Costa Rica are as much as 50% more expensive than in the rest of Latin America “due to the advantages that international labs have which fix high prices and also to the power of the companies that distribute the medicines”. Several studies including one from the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEIC) confirm tha...
The Government of Costa Rica presented this Thursday to the Legislative Assembly the proposal (Plan to overcome the fiscal impact of the pandemic) to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new loan of $1.750 Billion. “We need to maintain economic stability and activate employment to improve the situation in the country generated by COVID-19. If we do not act, the risk is in the hi...
Costa Rica's not just about rainforests and beautiful beaches. It is also a competitive world leader in agricultural exports. The country has plenty of experience in the food industry, coupled with innovative growing processes, superior soil quality, and a year-round growing season, have resulted in a cornucopia of high-demand crops sought worldwide. The country's coffee industry is known acros...
Costa Rica registers an unemployment rate of 24.4%, confirmed the National Institute of Census and Statistics (Spanish acronym: INEC), this represents an increase of 12.9 points and 270 thousand people approximately, mainly women which reach a rate of 30.2%. The Government has announced several measures to stimulate employment opportunities, among these the authorization of more flights to ente...
Late last month Costa Rican authorities completed 32 raids, arresting 27 people involved in illegal mining and an affiliated gold-laundering ring. The investigation began in April 2019, after authorities at San Jose’s Juan Santamaria International Airport noticed an unprecedented increase in the amount of gold listed in export documents filed. The investigation was thorough and intense, uncover...
Costa Rica’s Central Bank announced on Wednesday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $508 Million in emergency financing for Costa Rica to help alleviate the impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic. The five-year loan was granted through the IMF’s Rapid Financing Instrument, and carries a spread of 150 basis points over the IMF’s special drawing rights (SDRs), equal to an ...
There are currently 551,373 Costa Ricans without work: 282,000 men and 269,000 women. These are the latest figures from the National Statistics and Census Bureau (INEC), and indicate that the country has reached a 24% unemployment rate, the highest in the most recent years of Costa Rica’s history. These figures represent an increase of 256,000 more unemployed people from the previous year, and ...
How will Costa Rica recover economically from Covid-19? That's a great question with many variables and unknowns. Two things are clear about COVID-19 in Costa Rica: Cases continue to increase, and it will be an uphill battle to recover the economy. Currently there have been 12,361 confirmed cases of COVID since it arrived on March 6 (via two American tourists), and 71 people have sadly lost th...
As of June 24th Costa Rica has registered a total of 2,515 cases of COVID-19, out of which 1,210 patients have recovered, 30 people are still hospitalized and 5 are in the intensive care unit. Several counties and districts remain under orange alert, particularly in the northern Costa Rica and the Paquera district, as well as in the counties of Pavas, Alajuelita and Desamparados in San José. In...
UPDATED 06/19/20 The Costa Rican Government has SUSPENDED Phase 3 of the Economic reopening due to major spike in cases. The Ministry of Health confirmed this Thursday that as scheduled more businesses will be able to open doors again during the weekend as long as they comply with the sanitary guidelines given in each case. The country enters the third phase of reopening commerce which will...
The Costa Rican Government announced that as of this August 1st, digital trans-border services will be charged 13% as corresponds for the value added tax (VAT). The same rule will apply to the purchase of intangible goods by final consumers of VAT contributors to a provider that is located out of Costa Rica and for use or consumption in this country. Digital trans-border services encompass ...
Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has today changed the outlook on the Government of Costa Rica's ratings to negative from stable. Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed Costa Rica's B2 long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings. The negative outlook reflects Costa Rica's increased funding risks due to higher borrowing requirements resulting from pandemic-related economic and fiscal sh...
(Photo: Archive) Back on May 16 the Costa Rican Government announced its decision to limit the entry of foreign cargo drivers to the country with the purpose of preventing borders from eventually becoming an area of transmission of Covid-19. Before this Presidential decree Costa Rica was testing all cargo drivers for Covid-19 before entering the country, situation that was causing delays with ...
It is no secret that in Costa Rica the tourism sector took the biggest impact from Covid-19 pandemic; the numbers shared by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT) reflect this reality, for the month of March the country registered only 127,201 international arrivals, a considerable downfall from March 2019 when this number was 276,036. The difference of -51.4% is just the beginning, the month of ...
The Costa Rican government announced this Friday a plan to offer a benefit of 200 thousand colones, approximately $347.00 USD, a month to families affected financially by the crisis caused by Covid-19, this includes people that have been laid off or have had their income reduced. Part of the funds will come from an extraordinary budget, reassigning funds, and by maintaining the fuel price in m...
In the first debate Costa Rican deputies approved the bill presented by the Ministry of Work that will allow employers whose businesses are suffering a substantial reduction of their income to bring down their employees’ workdays by as much as 50%. This is a temporary measure in response to the state of emergency declared by the Costa Rican Government due to the crisis caused by Covid-19. Th...
The effects of the coronavirus on the economy of the country and worldwide are inevitable and began several days back, in Costa Rica, it is obviously the tourism sector the most affected, with borders closed as of today and for almost one month in the best case scenario the economic landscape is certainly not looking good for the hundreds of thousands of people that depend on this industry and for...
The total number of patients affected by Covid-19 in Costa Rica went from 50 to 69 in the last 24 hours, the age range of the patients goes from 8 to 87 years of age and includes 30 women, 39 men, 63 are Costa Rican and 6 foreigners. A total of 855 cases have been discarded. The Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, insisted in the importance of taking matters seriously, “We have to be seriou...
Based on the global crisis and what other world leaders are doing for their countries the short answer is NOT ENOUGH! President Carlos Alvarado informed of the directive to banks to readjust credits to help companies and the productive sector face the crisis, this will include: bringing down the credit interest rates according to the conditions of each client, extend the term of the credits, ex...
Costa Rican Government Proposes Measures to Protect Workers and Companies From Financial Effects of Covid-19 The Government of Costa Rica has presented different measures to protect workers and companies of the financial effects that coronavirus (Covid-19) brings along. An extension of three months in the payment of the value added tax, income tax of companies, and customs taxes, a significa...
According to local media outlets, the international restaurant Tony Roma’s has closed its doors in Costa Rica. Even though the sign on the door states that the restaurant is closed due to remodeling, the Ministry of Labor (MTSS) confirmed to local daily El Financiero that they have received 12 requests for conciliation from former workers who presented letters from the company informing them they ...
First the US elevates the travel alert due to security concerns and now Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has downgraded the Government of Costa Rica's long-term issuer and senior unsecured bond ratings to B2 from B1 and changed its rating outlook to stable from negative. The key drivers for today's downgrade are as follows: 1. High fiscal deficits leading to an upward trend in debt met...
In the ranking of “The Top Best Countries to Invest In” 2019 Costa Rica took the third position in the world only after Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. This study is updated once a year by U.S. News & World Report with the backing of Wharton school of the University of Pennsylvania and BAV Group. It has the specific analysis on investment topics that gathers answers given by 20,300 people from 36 cou...
Applebee’s closed its operations in Costa Rica, confirmed the franchise owner Dine Equity Applebee’s had three restaurants in the country, one in Terrazas shopping center in Lindora, Santa Ana, another one in Plaza Carolina , San Pedro and the third one in Cariari. According to Julio Villegas, operations manager of Applebee’s Costa Rica the reason the decision was made obeyed to profitabili...
The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) announced its 2019 performance results. CINDE's work directly contributes to the country's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as set by the United Nations. CINDE particularly contributes to 4 SDGs - Decent Work and Economic Growth, Gender Equity, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, and Quality Education - and as such reports its Foreign D...
An investigation carried out by the International Center of Economic Politics for Sustainable Development of the National University, that used data from 2016 to calculate the contribution of the country’s National Parks to Costa Rica’s finances put in evidence not only the ecologic importance but also the economic importance, social and institutional which is reflected in activities such as touri...
According to the latest National Homes Survey carried out by the National Institute of Census and Statistics ( Spanish acronym: INEC), 335,895 Costa Rican households live in poverty conditions in 2019, an increase of 7,047 homes in relation to 2018 when the total homes in poverty conditions reached 328,848. However, percentage wise the poverty indicator remained almost the same going from 21.1%...
Victor Morales, Minister of Presidency, presented two bills this week to Congress that complete the directive issued by the Executive Branch on the program to help people highly in dept. The bills have the purpose of helping thousands of workers that currently have large debts that affect the well-being of the families and at the same time contribute with the reactivation of the economy. “Prote...
Medtronic, the largest employer of precision mechanics in Costa Rica inaugurated this week its new manufacturing facility in Coyol, Alajuela. Medtronic has had a commercial presence in Costa Rica since 2015. The company established its manufacturing facility in 2017 with over 100 employees and has subsequently grown to more than 500 professionals in 2019. The facility manufactures components gl...
Maruyama Coffee Co. purchased Costa Rican Coffee of Group Los Grandes de Copey at a price of $65.30 per pound, paying a total $28,073 for the 429.91 pounds of coffee that comes from the region of Santa María de Dota. The negotiation took place during the twelfth edition of the electronic auction Cup of Excellence 2019, recognized as one of the main coffees selling programs worldwide. Not only d...
It's no surprise that Costa Rica isn't in the best financial shape. Costa Rican Congress approved a new tax package called "Law of Strengthening of Public Finances number 9635". Guess what this means......more taxes. Within the new taxes commencing July 2019 Hacienda will expand the number of products and services that will be taxed with IVA or "Value Added Tax", which is essentially a sales tax o...
Last year NBC News named cigarette butts as the single greatest source of ocean pollution – far surpassing the recently demonized plastic straws or single use plastic bags. The momentum of banning plastic straws continues to grow with major corporations taking up the fight and gradually phasing out straws completely. However, many experts believe that the focus of ocean pollution and litter should...
The Constitutional Chamber in Costa Rica (Sala IV) annulled this week 11 salary increases that benefited employees of the state refinery (RECOPE). The benefits were granted to the employees in what is called the “Convención Colectiva” (collective convention), which is an agreement celebrated between one or several worker unions and their employers to regulate the conditions under which the work...
You can only snicker when commenters on The Costa Rica Star state that ‘opinions’ on American politics have no business being carried as newsworthy to those in Tico land. Sorry folks, but what happens in Costa Rica’s biggest trading partner can not only affect the lives of its citizens and residents but it's future wellbeing…BIG time. We will try and make a complex subject simple. People are se...