Private business sector leaders criticized the Costa Rican government for interfering with individuals' and businesses' right to chose the transportation service they wish to use as police continue to crack down on Uber drivers. Alonso Elizondo, executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, is critical of a recent warning by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) to ...

  While Costa Rica has managed to maintain an overall growth in exports, the industries experiencing the most decline in business are located outside the country's free trade zones, said economic experts, who say more across-the-board incentives are required to stimulate the country's exports. The Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (CADEXCO) said in a statement this week that export act...

As Costa Rica seeks to increase revenue from exports, various sectors are exploring ways to be more competitive, including the timber industry, said the  Costa Rican Trade Promotion Agency (Procomer). The agency's recent study, "The World Timber Market and Trends for Value-Added Products," recommended that the national timber sector develop ideas for new value-added products. According to th...

Costa Rican producers and exporters are in Colombia this month for a round of visits and talks to search out new markets for their products, reported the Costa Rican foreign trade promotion agency, Procomer. A recent market study conducted by Procomer, "Colombia: analysis for the marketing of pastas, snacks, cookies, and sauces," has been a tool for businesses in Costa Rica over the past year t...

Foreign direct investment in the region continues downward trend for a total of US$167.043 billion in 2016. In its annual report, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects a fresh decline in 2017, of around 5 percent, and calls on countries to create policies to attract flows that support national processes of sustainable development. The flo...

This Thursday, the Costa Rica Government presented their new tax reform proposal to Congress, the project (The Strengthening of Public Finances Law), expects to reduce the existing gap between incoming and outgoing funds, balance the country’s budget by going from a 5% to a 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is the third proposal presented by the Government to Congress to try to get a...

A mega rail and road cargo transportation project that would completely bisect Costa Rica east-west through its northern region seems to have the makings of a future conservationist versus businessman standoff. The details of the project's location have been kept nebulous, while those in the shipping, trade and transport sectors tout the economic benefits of a future rapid interoceanic system t...

Costa Rica has made significant economic and social progress over the last decades. Real GDP per capita continues to increase at rates which outperform many other Latin American and OECD countries. But while living standards and well-being have increased, tax reforms are essential now to ensure the sustainable development of Costa Rica’s economy, according to a new OECD report. OECD Tax Policy ...

While Costa Rica is quick to tout its lack of military and "culture of peace," the country's growing gap between rich and poor points to gaps that breed injustice, exclusion and poverty. The breaches are often hard to see, but erode poor people's quality of life and often deprive them of basic needs in a country increasingly divided. Costa Rica recently ranked second in Latin America on the wor...

The Central American Electricity Interconnection System (SIEPAC) contracted the Costa Rican Electric Institute (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, better known as ICE) to conduct a feasibility study for the connection of a second circuit in 13 substations located in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, thus improving the region's interconnectivity. SIEPAC co...

A growing demand for pet health services in Costa Rica is driving the growth in private veterinary hospitals. Many are open round the clock, 365 days a year. The Veterinary Practitioners Professional Association has five such complexes registered. Those include the San Rafael Hospital and Veterinary Clinic in Heredia; the San Antonio Veterinary Hospital, also in Heredia, and the Intensivet Vete...

A week-long visit to Costa Rica by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) is focussing on investment possibilities, said the Ministry of Foreign Relations in s statement this week. Fund officials from the United Arab Emirates will analyze possibilities and issue a report on Costa Rica's viability as a recipient of investments in areas such as infrastructure and services that have an impact o...

A year after Costa Rica and China signed a Joint Action Plan for Cooperation - 2016-2020, Costa Rican exporters are still waiting to sell their products across the Pacific. The Costa Rican Chamber of Exporters (CADEXCO) decided to push for action so that producers in Costa Rica can take advantage of the favorable conditions offered under this special agreement before more time elapses. C...

  Results of a technical analysis of the country's fiscal situation were presented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) at the request of Costa Rican Finance Minister Helio Fallas. The OECD's director of  economics, Álvaro Santos Pereira, summarized the agency's conclusions last week to the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly's finance committee. Also in att...

Costa Rica is among the Latin America countries seeking new sources of suppliers for cars, and other items such as apparel, said the Canadian Manufacturing trade magazine. A recent study by UPS on import activities by businesses in Latin America have opened a window on new opportunities for exporting countries. Costa Rica, Colombia, and Peru were found to have the highest percentage of impor...

Twenty-one new businesses have agreed to participate in a gender equality and women's economic empowerment program organized by the Costa Rican National Institute of Women (INAMU, its initials in Spanish) with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The female employment rate in Costa Rica is 39.9 percent, while that of men is 68 percent, based on the Continuous Employment S...

Shared work between humans and robots is on the horizon as a way to potentially reduce costs and errors, and to improve productivity and quality. Are service centers in Latin America ready to make this leap? This is one of the central themes being discussed at a regional meeting this week in San José of Latin American shared services center leaders. The event, organized for the fifth cons...

Credit card debt is on the rise in Costa Rica, reported the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce today. Over a 5-year period (from April 30, 2012 - April 30, 2017), the balance of credit card debt in the country has grown by 51 percent, with 21 percent of that growth occurring just in the past year (April 30, 2016 - April 30,2017). The debt has increased alongside a 60 percent increase...

Envision a country with electric transportation, both public and private. That's all it would take to make Costa Rica cut its dependence on fossil fuels, with its already nearly total production of green electricity. Sound like a tall order? Monica Araya says that though she comes from a small country, she likes to dream big. The Yale-educated conservationist has turned her efforts over rece...

Got rice? Costa Rica consumer groups hope its locally grown, and are pushing for price subsidies to stay in place to support local farmers. The National Federation of Consumers (Fenasco) urged the President of the Republic Luís Guillermo Solís to maintain price subsidies for the country's basic staple, rice, and to not cede to pressures from organizations, companies or business chambers to roll...

The construction sector in Costa Rica has shown signs of recovery, the creation of new jobs in this area is one of the main signs, employment grew by 5.17% in the first trimester of 2017 in comparison with the last trimester of 2016. According to data by the Costa Rica Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), provided by the Costa Rica Construction Chamber, the growth represented 6,540 new jobs,...

Merck Sharpe and Dohme will establish a regional center for financial services in Costa Rica to support the company's operations in Latin America, reported Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Ministry yesterday. Foreign Trade Minister Alexander Mora congratulated and thanked the company for its trust in Costa Rica. "Costa Rica has a recognized track record as a competitive destination for companies lik...

Businesses in the former agricultural towns near the frequently touristed volcano by the same name in Poás, Alajuela are reporting up to 70 percent decreases in sales over recent weeks since the volcano entered a new, eruptive phase. Tourism has become a mainstay of this national park and surrounding area due to its proximity to the main international airport and to San José - making it a popul...

"Costa Rica’s economy is growing at its estimated trend rate of about 4.25 percent," said economists at the International Monetary Fund. Their recently released report also summarized the situation as follows: "The colón has been depreciating moderately since mid-2016, while reserves have declined despite the narrowing in the current account deficit...inflation is returning to desire...

Last week, first vice-president and minister of finance, Helio Fallas, was called to make a statement before the Legislative Assembly's Commission of Income and Public Expenditure as they work to settle the country's 2016 extraordinary budget, said the Finance Ministry in a statement. At his appearance before the commission, the minister said, "you are well aware ... that this extraordinary bud...

The Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (CADEXCO, its initials in Spanish) said it is concerned about the stagnation in exports in the country's priority sectors, according to reports in Central America's Summa business magazine this week. The agricultural sector, which represents 28 percent of the country's exports and is the largest employer in rural areas, has shown no growth this year compar...

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Judith Garber is in San Jose, Costa Rica this week. Her 3-day visit will focus on environmental issues and sustainable trade, said the U.S. Department of State's office of the spokesperson in a statement Tuesday. On June 20, Garber met with Costa Rican Minister of Environment ...

To strengthen the country's national strategy on low carbon livestock (a program referred to with the initials ENGBC in Spanish), the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the National Institute of Learning (INA) have joined to enhance the country's sustainable livestock production with more resources. Mauricio Chacón Navarro, manager of the national livestock program and coordinator ...

Costa Rica and Japan yesterday signed a financing for the sum of about US$240 million (25,991 million yen) for the construction of the Borinquen I geothermal energy plant, reported the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). This will be the third geothermal plant in the country, coming after the Miravalles and the Las Pailas projects. The 55-megawatt facility in the northern Gu...

Costa Rica’s Attorney General's office notified the Labor Ministry that the ministry is correct in applying retirement benefits to same-sex partners in the same way they do for heterosexual partners. "The response of the Office of the Attorney General helps to determine with legal certainty and clarity the path the national pensions directorate should take for the implementation of this legal c...

This week, Costa Rica embarks on a high-level tour in Japan to seek new markets for investment, trade and technical support to build capacity in Costa Rica, said the Costa Rican Investment and Development Agency (CINDE). "Strengthening trade ties with Japan is part of our government's efforts to diversify our economy. This work tour involves ... the promotion of investment, events with potentia...

During a visit to Costa Rica, Minister Barbara Hendricks of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Construction and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) of the Federal Republic of Germany, announced support in the amount of 15 million Euros to aid Costa Rica work on mitigation and adaptation to climate change, reported the Costa Rican government. During a visit that began on Friday 16 ...

Tourists that visited the country during 2016 spent in average US$1,369.00 and the total amount of visitors that year according to the Costa Rican Tourism Board was of over 2.6 million (considering all different points of access aerial and terrestrial according to statistics by the Costa Rica Tourism Board and Costa Rica Migration Office). For 2016 the total number of visitors considering all i...

As part of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica last week celebrated the strengthening of ties between the two countries, reported the Foreign Ministry's office. At an activity at the National Theater, presided over by the President of the Republic Luis Guillermo ...

The reputational risks associated with last year's financial scandals such as the Panama Papers, and the arrests and imprisonment of several high ranking Guatemalan politicians on banking-related corruption charges, are the greatest current threats to Costa Rica's and Central America's banking sector, said analysts at Central America's business strategy magazine, Estrategias y Negocios. The 180...

If you are a user of the highway between Escazú and Caldera, (Route 27), take into consideration that as of this Thursday, June 8th the payment of the toll fees will increase in 120 colones ($0.21). According to concessionary Globalvia, the raise in the fee obeys to the fluctuation of the exchange rate in the past few weeks. The toll in Escazú will go from 350 to 370 colones for passenger ve...

In the midst of protests surrounding the growing production of pineapple in Costa Rica, Friday, Costa Rica sent its first shipment of pineapples from the Pacific port of Caldera to Shanghai, China. The nine ship containers containing over 15,000 cases of pineapples marks Costa Rica's entry into the Chinese tropical fruit market, said the Xinhua news agency. "This first shipment of pineapples...

Costa Rican and Azerbaijani chancellors met last week to seek to increase trade, investment, tourism, and cooperation between the two nations, and announced a reciprocal opening of embassies and an agreement on diplomatic visas. Investments by the Azerbaijan Petroleum Fund in Costa Rica were an important part of the talks, said the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Manuel A. Gon...

While pineapple growers downplay the social, and also environmental, issues behind the monoculture’s activity in Costa Rica, local communities continue to share firsthand experiences of human and labor rights violations. “One of the most worrying complaints that is systematically repeated in the plantations visited in Limón province - in Guácimo, Siquirres, Pococí, and Talamanca - as well as th...

Starting September 1, 2017, the annual tax on corporations, including inactive - or "shelf" or holding - companies will begin to be collected, said president of the Association of Public Accountants, Ronald Artavia in a statement. The law exempts micro and small businesses from payment; and a one-time exemption is included for the first year of the tax on people who close their companies or tra...