Screenshot of INS webpage MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of “a-” of Instituto Nacional de Seguros (INS) (San Jose, Costa Rica). The outlook for both ratings is stable.   The ratings reflect INS’ favorable operating performance in conjunction with strong capitalization, sound reinsuranc...

A Cuban Farmer. Source: Flickr Havana, Mar 2 (EFE).- Almost 100 U.S. agri-businessmen visiting Cuba on Monday supported an end to the embargo on the island and said they were ready to push the productive sector there, one of the economy's most acute needs given that Cuba spends $2 billion per year to import food. The businessmen are representatives of the U.S. Agricultural Coalition for Cub...

Source: Pure Hospitality LAS VEGAS, Feb. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc., (OTC: PNOW) announced today, that the Company has made stronger relationships, to ensure that its FROL booking engine is given new life as Oveedia, the anticipated Central-America-Caribbean Online Travel Agency (OTA) to be launched in Costa Rica later this year. "Take a serious look at the OT...

China extended loans worth $22.1 billion to Latin America in 2014, topping the $20 billion lent by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank combined. EFE/File Washington, Feb 27 (EFE).- China extended loans worth $22.1 billion to Latin America in 2014, topping the $20 billion lent by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank combined, according to a report from a Was...

Source; EFE file photo By Emilio J. Lopez for EFE with additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star Miami, Feb 2015 (EFE).- Miami wants to augment its cultural offerings, leisure activities, sun and beaches by making itself - over the next few years - into an alternative technology zone to Silicon Valley, a plan that Miami Dade College is convinced can be achieved. Over the past five year...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold A mining company with a controversial track record in Costa Rica recently announced its acceptance of a loan from a major shareholder, and this temporary provision of funds is expected to float this embattled Canadian firm as it pursues a claim against Costa Rica. Readers of The Costa Rica Star are likely familiar with the saga of Infinito Gold in our c...

Source: Pixabay Commons Although the online gaming and sports wagering industry in Costa Rica is under siege by United States law enforcement and by proposals that seek to allow and regulate Internet gambling in that country, the industry is not slowing down in terms of technological advancement. This much is evident by the following press release from PPHUSA.com:   San Jose, Costa ...

The city of Liberia in the province of Guanacaste may soon be home to the first Industrial Park of Science and Technology in Central America. According to a news report recently filed by Fiorella Valle of Guanacaste online news daily Primero en Noticias, the intention to build this park was announced during a business and development forum that took place in the campus of EARTH University in Liber...

Source: Green Lava The burgeoning sector of video game development in Costa Rica is picking up speed and attracting international attention. Thanks to an initiative by PROCOMER, which is a government agency in charge of marketing trade and exports, six video game development firms from Costa Rica will exhibit their work and expertise at one of the most important business expos in this field. T...

The Greenback If the way you make a living in Costa Rica consists of getting paid in United States dollars (USD), there a couple of things you should know about what your financial future might hold now that the greenback is no longer tied to currency exchange bands. As recently reported by The Costa Rica Star, the Central Bank decided to get rid of the currency exchange bands, which had a min...

Source: Modernize.com This article, written by Jane Blanchard, was kindly provided by Modernize, an Austin, TX-based provider of residential construction and renovation solutions. The Republic of Costa Rica is a patchwork quilt of micro climates. In Playas Del Coco, on the westward Pacific coast, leisure travelers snorkel in blue-gray waters warmed by abundant sunlight and fed by 55 inches ...

Super Mora During 2014, grocery retailers in Costa Rica continued to focus on offering attractive value relations to consumers, which were mainly represented by discounts and offers in the case of supermarkets (even in the case of the high- end players), hypermarkets and discounters, while convenience stores remained committed with offering time-saving, differentiated items and product availa...

News media outlets in Costa Rica are beginning to provide details on the highly controversial Swiss Leaks scandal involving millions upon millions of dollars stashed away in deposit and investment accounts at the controversial HSBC bank in Switzerland. Allegations about the involvement high-profile business people and politicians were reported by the press in Costa Rica, but initial investigations...

Beach house in Costa Rica ORLANDO, FLORIDA (PRWEB) February 09, 2015 - After another record-setting year of growth, productivity and profitability gains, Keller Williams announced it has become the largest real estate franchise by agent count in the world. The Austin, Texas-based company added a net gain of 17,000 associates in 2014, increasing its worldwide associate count to more than 112,00...

Wikimedia Commons Between the months of May and June of 2015, some residents of the Guanacaste region in Costa Rica will be able to enjoy broadband Internet speeds of up to 20 Mbps thanks to a fiber optic cabling project that will be undertaken by the CoopeGuanacaste business consortium. This project is planned to cover the cantonal seats of Nicoya, Filadelfia and Santa Cruz. According to t...

Visitors who arrive in Costa Rica from either the United States or The Netherlands do not have to worry about not being able to find beers that are both iconic and emblematic to their countries of origin. Budweiser and Heineken are just two examples of foreign beers that are brewed in Costa Rica by the Florida Ice &Farm Company (FIFCO), which is gradually becoming a significant player in the l...

Cafe Britt MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwired) - AgilOne, the predictive marketing cloud company, announced in December that the Costa Rica based gourmet, hand-roasted coffee and hand-made chocolate retailer Café Britt became a new customer. Café Britt is a company that prides itself on the unique, authentic and personalized experience each customer has with the brand. They plan to use AgilOne ...

Source: Flickr Commons Author's Note: To get some background on the findings of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) below, please read our previous article on their preliminary recommendations. One of the bottom line recommendations is centered on taxation and its effective enforcement. IMF Executive Board Concludes 2014 Article IV Consultation with Costa Rica Pr...

Source: Pura Vida Bracelets An enterprise previously featured by The Costa Rica Star is now being recognized by the prestigious business magazine Forbes. Paul Goodman and Griffin Thall are the cofounders of Pura Vida Bracelets; in the past, we described their entrepreneurial spirit as follows: When Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman traveled to Costa Rica in 2009 after graduating from San Diego S...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Despite a recent decision by the Central Bank of Costa Rica to allow the United States dollar (USD) to float freely against the colon (CRC), the country’s sovereign debt remains very high while the deficit becomes tougher to manage. As a result, The Costa Rica Star has recently published press releases from Fitch Ratings, which indicate that the sovereign debt outlook...

Boeing 737 engine Ever since the esteemed airline LACSA ceased operations, air travelers and the aviation community have been anxiously waiting for the day Costa Rica will once again have its very own international airline. That day may come later this year as the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (Spanish initials: DGAC) is preparing to officially certify Air Costa Rica in the next few mo...

Source: Banco Central NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has revised the Rating Outlook on Costa Rica's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the IDRs at 'BB+'. The issue ratings on Costa Rica's senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds have been affirmed at 'BB+'. The Short-term foreign currency IDR has been affir...

Tamarindo Beach On the final installment of Kristine Gorman's real estate adventure in Costa Rica, she runs into some issues with regard to her plans of acquiring an investment property in the Gold Coast beaches of Guanacaste. Still, the Boston accountant persevered and is now the proud owner of a condominium unit in Tamarindo Beach. Before reading this insightful account of purchasing resi...

Source: Flickr Commons SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Tyrexpo2015, which is poised to become among the Western Hemisphere's most important trade shows, is just 15 weeks away! The three-day event runs fromApril 29 through May 1, 2015 at the Pedregal Convention Center in San Jose, Costa Rica. Anticipation is mounting: The premiere exhibition of Tyrexpo2015 promises to be an ...

Readers of The Costa Rica Star are likely to be familiar with the real estate saga of Hacienda Dorada in Playa Barrigona, province of Guanacaste; after all, the owner of this opulent mansion is none other than Hollywood legend Mel Gibson, who has been trying to sell this particular property over the last few years. It so happens that interest in this property is heating up, and more real estate...

Source: RREE Speaking from Beijing on January 8th, President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera used strong words to describe his new foreign policy as it relates to the unprecedented and massive economic agreement between the Republic of Costa Rica and the  People’s Republic of China (PRC). As published in a communiqué issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:   “We are not here to talk ab...

The luxury real estate market in Costa Rica is growing at a gradual, reserve pace. Until there is a significant surge in demand for luxury properties, homeowners who are looking to earn income from their lavish dwellings should look towards capturing the growing market of travelers looking for upscale accommodations in Costa Rica. To this end, Pure Hospitality Solutions is a firm dedicated to deve...

Source: Flickr Commons The cost of doing business in Costa Rica is getting a bit more expensive as the national economy adjusts to inflation. For the year 2015, the corporate tax (fee) on active domestic and foreign business entities such as sociedades anonimas (S.A.) and the simpler responsabilidad limitada (S.R.L) has been set at 201,700 colones (about $375 at today’s currency exchange rate)...

Wikimedia Commons SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Dec. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) and the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (COMEX) announced that 39 new investment projects from the sectors of Corporate Services, Life Sciences, Light Manufacturing, Advanced Manufacturing, Agribusiness and Food Industry were attracted to Costa Rica in 2014. Thes...

This past August, a Web application developer that works closely with Google visited Costa Rica and met with our Minister of Education to discuss the potential of a special project to reduce dropout rates and truancy in public schools. The idea would be to teach students how to perform certain tasks online through the use of Google Apps; these tasks would entail communicating with peers around the...

When it comes to mobile communications and paid television markets, Costa Rica is poised to grow and foster a solid landscape for business competition. Such is the determination of a new report being offered by Research and Markets. This new report is titled Costa Rica: Pending LTE Auction Will Help Balance Mobile Operators' Spectrum Holdings, Boosting Competition, and it was produced by Pyramid R...

With the holiday season around the corner, real estate analysts in Costa Rica are busy preparing their forecasts for 2015. The housing market in Costa Rica has changed considerably in the last two years, and one of the most noticeable factors is the reduced participation of foreign buyers during the green (rainy) season of 2014. This does not mean that real estate agents in Costa Rica have not bee...

A medical device outsourcing firm based in Galway, province of Connacht, has acquired the assets of a foreign firm operating in Costa Rica that could result in additional jobs for their manufacturing facility in Heredia, a municipality where outsourcing is a major industry. According to a recent news article by Gavin Daly of the Sunday Times of London, Creganna, a Galway-based medtech group, is li...

Brightstar Corp. is exactly the type of major foreign direct investment (FDI) that President Luis Guillermo Solis has been trying to bring to Costa Rica. This global supply chain and retail solutions provider for the wireless industry is headquartered in Miami, and its new operations center, located in Barreal de Heredia near the CENADA, is creating 150 jobs. Here's the official press release by t...

Even though ratings agency Moody’s recently downgraded sovereign bonds issued by the Central Bank of Costa Rica as junk, President Luis Guillermo Solis has been busy courting investors from the United States and is planning on visiting Canada soon for the same reason. Costa Rica plans to issue $1 billion more in bonds next year, and President Solis is still intent on gaining entry into the Organiz...

North American investors in Costa Rica are usually surprised at the higher yields they can realize with plain-vanilla securities such as certificates of deposit (CDs). Once they get to learn a bit about how banking and financial systems work in this country, they understand how CDs can make them money with almost no risk. The following rundown of the banking system in Costa Rica is cordially p...

Personal banking at the large state-sponsored institutions in Costa Rica is not for the squeamish. There are many horror stories among expatriates about frozen funds, incorrect account information, blocked debit cards, lost term deposits, excessive red tape, etc. Most of the time, these problems can be avoided in the first place with the assistance of a bilingual account executive who really cares...

When it comes to investing in Costa Rica, foreigners are usually at a disadvantage: They are often targeted by dubious investment schemes involving real estate, precious metals, agricultural commodities, wagers, and other high-risk and downright shady proposals. What makes this situation even more deplorable is that those who perpetrate investment scams against expats are often their compatriots. ...

Author's Note: This article was submitted by Asdrubal Zamora Corrales as a response to Bank Interest Rates for Term Deposits in Costa Rica, published on March 10th, 2014. Mr. Zamora is an executive in charge of debt instruments and other investments at COOPENAE, the most powerful credit union in Costa Rica. Mr. Zamora's original article has been slightly edited for grammar and style. COOPENAE's...

Central Bank of Costa RicaUPDATE: please click here for more information about Coopenae in Costa Rica. Thank you to Asdrubal Zamora Corrales for the additional insights and information. Last week, the banking interest rate in Costa Rica dropped to its lowest level since July 2008. The “tasa basica pasiva” is set by the Central Bank of Costa Rica and it is a closely-followed economic indicator ...