Smile Direct Club, an American company specialized in orthodontic services, has announced an aggressive recruitment plan for this 2017 in which it plans to add 400 more people to its current operation of 160 people in the country. To date the company has invested around half a million dollars and expects to double that investment by August. The company serves as an orthodontic products distribu...

Costa Rica's Foreign Minister continued on from his meetings in Qatar last week to other regions of the Middle East to continue to court economic interests in Costa Rica's markets.   Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel González held a private meeting last week as part of his participation at the World Economic Forum in Jordan with His Majesty King Abdallah II of Jordan and Jordanian For...

Countries in the Central American region are the favored recipients of direct foreign investment by Costa Rican firms. According to figures from the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR), over the last 10 years the flow of investments abroad reached US$1.96 billion, and 56 percent of these investments were in Central America. Panama is the top destination, with US$541.1 million over the last dec...

The pharmaceutical transnational, Allergan, recently awarded its Costa Rica manufacturing plant for its excellent performance. Allergan was founded in 2015 through the acquisition of Allergan, Inc by Actavis, Plc, according to corporate information. The company manufactures branded and generic pharmaceuticals, and conducts pharmaceutical research and development. After an evaluation of its p...

The American Life Sciences Company, Precision Coating Co., Inc. (PCCI), a subsidiary of Katahdin Industries Inc. is inaugurating its new plant located in Coyol Free Zone, Alajuela, Building B25. The company is receiving national and international customers to celebrate the inauguration of its coating plant for medical device parts. The company occupies a space of 1,300 m² with equipment that ha...

More than 800 properties in Costa Rica including houses, commercial spaces and land will be offered at the Properties for Sale Expo that will take place May 19-21 at the City Mall in Alajuela. Banco de Costa Rica, Banco Nacional, Banco Popular and BanCrédito, all public banks in the country, informed that important discounts and financing will be available for those interested. Banco Popular...

  The National Consultative Council on Social Responsibility was established in July 2008, and is considered an organization of national public interest. The council has 60 members hailing from the business sector, public sector, civil society, and international development agencies. Its mission is, “To be an effective, multi-sectoral platform that promotes the culture and practice o...

Even a place called Pocosol (literally, “little sun”) is sunny enough in Costa Rica to support a solar energy project. Thus the Costa Rican consortium of electricity producing cooperatives, Conelectricas R.L., is investing in two solar energy generation plants in Costa Rica's central-western region that will benefit 7,000 homes. The first is a project with Coopelesca R.L., in Santa Rosa de P...

The peaceful gathering and march of over 500 people yesterday in downtown San José centered around the feared negative environmental and human health effects of increasing pineapple production in the southern Costa Rica wetlands area bordering the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands. Their voices were heard by environmental authorities, who today announced a moratorium on any further pineapple exp...

This note summarizes preliminary findings and recommendations of the IMF mission that visited Costa Rica during May 2-15, 2017. The mission is grateful for the high quality and openness of the discussions and for the cooperation and hospitality of the Costa Rican authorities and private sector. I. Recent Developments 1. Both output and growth are at potential, while inflation has reemerged...

Many in Costa Rica are groaning at the specter of the newly approved ‘tax on legal entities,” better known as the corporate tax law, which is soon to go into effect. If you have a car, house or other personal property held in an inactive or “shelf” company, you will be required to pay a yearly tax on the company, though inactive companies pay the lowest rate. However, the government is givin...

First quarter employment data for 2017 shows a steady unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. On the other hand, the rate of underemployment dropped by 2.8 points compared to the first quarter of 2016, said the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), meaning more people moved into jobs with greater hours and/or into different job positions. The Institute’s Continuous Employment Survey (ECE, ...

Costa Rica’s National Technical Environmental Secretariat (Secretaría Técnica Nacional Ambiental, Setena) recently gave the green light for increased pineapple production in Costa Rica’s southern region, a move that is troubling to environmentalists and indigenous groups whose protected lands in that region would be threatened by the intensive monoculture agriculture, reported Edgardo Araya, Broad...

The Costa Rica Brewery Company (FIFCO) opened its first souvenir shop under the name “Tienda de la Birra” (Beer Store, “birra” is the coloquial term used by ticos to refer to beer). The new store is located in San Joaquí de Flores, Heredia, in the FIFCO corporate building, and it offers articles such as t-shirts, caps, shorts, towels, lanyards, sunglasses, key chains, mugs, and more, both with ...

Nobody has heard much these days about the once highly touted interoceanic canal that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega proposed to build. Thousands of jobs, and millions in investments were gloriously promised to Nicaragua, without apparently any secure plans for carrying out the mammoth project. Four years after an agreement was signed between the Nicaragua government and a Chinese investor,...

Great Place to Work© Institute Central America & Caribbean recognizes the efforts of companies that work under a model of high-trust culture in the region, the 2017 edition includes several companies in Costa Rica. “Decades of research show workplaces with high-trust cultures see higher levels of innovation, customer and patient satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational agility and ...

In the first four months of the year the price of the dollar on the Monex wholesale market has increased almost 2 percent, according to financial reports. At the beginning of the year, the price of the U.S. currency was 556.06 colones to the dollar, but on Tuesday, May 2 the day closed at 566.97 colones to the dollar, a gain of 10 colones in only four months. "In the banks' windows, the refe...

TransPerfect, the world's largest privately held provider of translation services and technology solutions for global business, today announced the opening of a new contact center in Costa Rica. The facility will seat 120 new employees, most of whom are expected to be new hires from the greater San José area. Located in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM), specifically in Alajuela, it is the co...

DHL Costa Rica recently donated bikes to 77 poor families in Guanacaste, Costa Rica’s northern Pacific coast province, reported the company. The event was designed to coincide with the recognition of 75 DHL Employee of the Year recipients, who were also featured at the bike ceremony. "Every year during the Employee of the Year celebration, we organize activities that reinforce the philosophy...

PayPal has extended its consumer protection coverage to include customers in 12 Latin American countries including Costa Rica, reported the region’s Summa business magazine. The service, which went into effect last week, aims to put customers more at ease when buying online, and is already available in several Latin American countries including Mexico and Brazil. PayPal said they will now re...

The North American-Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) urged Costa Rican entrepreneurs to work within the U.S. government's framework of expanding bilateral trade as Trump steers the U.S. away from multilateral agreements that have generated a trade deficit. San José, April 28, 2017. On the Trump Administration's 100th day, political and economic analysts the world over are sizing things up....

Cartago will soon be getting its second Walmart store, this one in La Lima, at the entrance to the city and in the vicinity of the La Lima Industrial Park. This new store will bring the Walmart global chain’s total to 11 outlets in Costa Rica. No information was forthcoming regarding details of the opening date, construction size, or number of new hirees for the new la Lima store. The lat...

Concentrix, a global business services company, launched a state-of-the-art delivery center at Pavas today. The center was inaugurated by Vice President, Ana Helena Chacón, the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade, Jhon Fonseca, with Concentrix President Chris Caldwell, CINDE representatives, clients, and company staff in attendance and is the 4th center in the country for Concentrix. The investment is ...

While business leaders clamor for expedited border crossings, the issue has been pulled from the legislative agenda for further consultation with indigenous groups living in the southern and northern border regions, according to reports in several Costa Rican national media. A border integration program established with the Inter-American Development Bank to provide Costa Rica with US$100 milli...

Come one, come all to try out creative fare from throughout Costa Rica at the sixth Gustico food fair at the La Sabana Metropolitan Park this weekend. The event gives small scale food and other agricultural-related producers an opportunity to meet with local and international buyers, distributors and businesses, as well as a chance introduce their value-added products to the general public. ...

If you want some extra income, and have a 4-door car no older than a year 2000 model, you can register at Nova to be a driver. The company is seeking applicants throughout Costa Rica's seven provinces. The driver phone/computer application will be released May 24, and the company says they plan to start offering services, complete with a legal services department for drivers, July 24, according...

As the demand for private health services grows by both Costa Ricans and tourists alike, leaders in the sector felt a broader approach to aid in coordination and communication was needed. Earlier this year at its annual assembly, Promed, Costa Rica's long standing medical tourism promotional body voted to change its statutes and to create an expanded body called the "Cámara Costarricense de la Sa...

The 33rd edition of ExpoTur Costa Rica, an event that is considered the most important tourism travel mart of Costa Rica and the Central America Region, and one of the most relevant in Latin America will take place May 10-12 at Centro Kolbi in Parque Viva, La Guácima. This event offers companies involved in the tourism industry an opportunity to showcase their services or products to national a...

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and Siemens Costa Rica S.A. yesterday signed a commercial agreement at the ICE head office in Sabana Norte, near downtown San José to define and delimit the terms for carrying out joint projects in different areas of the electricity sector. "The agreement seeks to foster synergies, build on each other's individual strengths and complementary services ...

Costa Rica is the only country in Central America that accumulates ten years of uninterrupted electrical service, while the other five countries in the region accumulate 13 total or partial blackouts in the last seven years, according to the Regional Operator Entity (EOR). ¨We estimate that just one total blackout of the National Electric System, that would require close to three hours to reest...

The Costa Rica Filming Commission participated in the AFCI Locations & Global Production show  in Los Angeles, California with the objective of promoting the country as an ideal destination for audiovisual productions. This event brought together close to 80 AFCI Film Commission Members and service industry partners, of more than 30 countries, it connects media content producers and global ...

OFID signs first-ever trade finance loan to Costa Rican bank Vienna, Austria, April 12, 2017. The OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has signed a US$15m loan agreement with Scotiabank de Costa Rica S.A (SCB). The transaction represents OFID’s first-ever trade finance loan to the country and was signed by OFID Director-General Suleiman J Al-Herbish and SCB’s President of the Board of...

With growing demand for organic produce in the United States, Texas-based Pasco Foods is stepping up to fill the niche market. The company, which began packing private label French-Fried onions and Crispy-Fried Onions for U.S. retailers, wholesale clubs and industrial customers in 1999, has since expanded to supply pineapple and hearts of palm imports from Costa Rica to U.S. consumers, accordin...

Costa Rica’s state-owned Banco Nacional has taken steps to encourage employees to bicycle to work, reported the entity this week. The initiative, launched this year at the bank’s downtown main and La Uruca offices, includes a bike parking area, dressing rooms with showers, and lockers, said Carlos Abarca Rivera, deputy general manager of operations. This year 10 - 15 employees have been cycl...

Max Machum started learning Spanish when, at age 7, he and his parents relocated to Guanacaste, in northern Costa Rica, from Alberta Canada's Rocky Mountains. By the time he was 12, the Canmore native had pioneered a local effort to eliminate plastic straws from restaurants and hotels to protect Guanacaste's Pacific beaches and wildlife from the often deadly effects of human pollution. After...

Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) builds linkages between young business and social entrepreneurs in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, providing opportunities, training, tools, networks and resources to help them carry out their projects and contribute to their economic development. This internship is a program of the U.S. State Department offered in Latin America, incl...

The fall in economic activity is attributed to negative growth in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the manufacturing industry, and financial and insurance activities. In February, economic activity in Costa Rica increased 3.9 percent, almost 2 points below last February's growth of 5.4 percent, according to the monthly index of economic activity (IMAE, Incide Mensual de Actividad Económica) c...

Tamarindo, Guanacaste: Today, Monday, April 10, the Municipal Council of Santa Cruz in the northern Costa Rican province of Guanacaste ordered a 22-day halt to the construction of a restaurant and cafeteria in the popular tourist beach town of Tamarindo. The construction of the new business came under the spotlight by local residents last month when they started building on a site the municipal...

Costa Rican and Nicaraguan business leaders met yesterday to hammer out a cooperation agreement to further trade between the two countries, said the Costa Rican Private Sector Business Union (UCCAEP, its initials in Spanish) Members of Nicaragua’s Superior Private Business Council (COSEP, its initials in Spanish) traveled to San José for the 1-day session aimed at strengthening relations and co...

The Payless footwear chain store announced this week it has filed for bankruptcy in the United States and Canada, and plans to close some 400 stores. No Costa Rican stores will be affected by the financial difficulties. The Kansas-based firm, which has accumulated debts in excess of US$1 billion, said it had filed papers in a court in St. Louis, Missouri, and had also pleaded before the cour...