The Coalition for Development Initiatives (Cinde) identified these 10 emerging cities as having the greatest potential in Costa Rica to start attracting new types of investment and increase economic opportunities; they are San Carlos, Liberia, Carrillo, Orotina, Puntarenas, Perez Zeledón, Limón, Pococí, Siquirres, and Turrialba These cities are located in counties which have “a significant degr...

Many foreigners fall in love with Costa Rica  during their vacation in the country, and buying a vacation home soon becomes a family goal; however, unless you are the impulsive buyer type that makes a decision at the spur of the moment, there are many aspects that should be considered before buying a vacation home in Costa Rica. The majority of the people looking to buy a vacation home in Costa...

A 59.6 carat pink diamond could become the most expensive precious stone of its class on Apr. 4 at an auction organized by Sotheby's Hong Kong, the company said Wednesday. The "Pink Star" diamond was presented in Hong Kong on Wednesday, six days before it was to go on sale, and the final bid could exceed $60 million, according to expectations of the auction house. It was the biggest pink dia...

When the term luxury is mentioned many people think exclusively about extravagant living, splendor, even opulence; perhaps what comes to mind are images of magnificent resorts in Dubai; yet, luxury in Costa Rica goes a bit beyond that, sure, it encompasses great comfort and stunning designs, but it has a lot more to do with eco-friendly living, sustainability and natural settings that cannot be re...

An iconic portrait of China's Communist leader Mao Zedong by Andy Warhol will be up for auction for the first time in China on April 1 at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. The portrait, dating back to 1973, is expected to fetch between $12 million and $15 million. "It is the most expensive painting from a western artist in Sotheby's Hong Kong," the auction house's Asia head Isaure de Viel Castel said ...

This week, the U.S. company DineEquity announced plans to open at least 10 International House of Pancakes (IHOP) brand restaurants in Costa Rica as part of its growth plan in Latin America, said Costa Rica’s business daily El Financiero. The brand’s international growth has mainly focused on increasing the number of restaurants in existing markets and, at the same time, entering three new mark...

The Costa Rican Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC) joins an international campaign in March to increase awareness of consumer fraud, and ways to protect yourself, whether online or otherwise. This year's theme is Internet fraud, one of the most common fraudulent business practices today. Various online ploys can compromise your personal information that then allows access to your...

The community of Carrillo in Guanacaste prepares to receive the visit of more than 15,000 people of 40 different countries next June as Costa Rica hosts the world famous triathlon competition Ironman 70.3 for the first time in history. Over $350 thousand dollars will be invested in total, the majority of the funds will be go to paving 3 kilometers of road that extends from the community of Sa...

During a conference in the Costa Rican congress regarding the relation between oil and hydrogen in the country, former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang Díaz, current director of Ad Astra Rocket Company, states that Costa Rica has enough energy to generate its own fuel at home and satisfy the demand, without the need to buy petroleum. According to Chang, his organization has been working on achiev...

Wall Street closed with strong gains on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the main market indicator, rising 1.45 percent and ending the day above 21,000 for the first time in history in the wake of President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress. All the major indexes moved into record territory, with the DJIA up 303.31 points to 21,115.55 at the close of t...

By Wendy Anders Last week the Costa Rican Ministry of Finance and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement this month for US$280,000 to support mechanisms for managing public works programs in the country. The donation is designed to support the Costa Rican government as they adopt technical, legal, administrative and procedural reforms. Specific out...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the New York Stock Exchange's blue-chip index, closed above 20,000 for the first time in its history on Wednesday, while two other leading stock market indexes - the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite - both set new record highs. The Dow closed at 20,068.51, up 0.78 percent, while the S&P 500 finished up 0.80 percent at 2,298.37 and the Nasdaq climbed 0.9...

Executives from Honeywell’s global distributor for solar technology, Global Solar Trading BV (GST), visited El Salvador recently to meet with Solanda, a local company providing renewable energy technology. The two companies clinched a deal to distribute and expand solar technology in Central America. "El Salvador's energy potential is high, as there are an average of six hours of intensive s...

Buenos Aires, Jan. 10 — President Mauricio Macri said Tuesday that oil companies and unions reached an agreement to produce natural gas at Vaca Muerta, one of the world's largest shale oil and gas fields, in a deal that will generate $5 billion in investment in Argentina this year alone. "The companies are committed to a virtuous investment process that will be $5 billion" in 2017 and double in s...

New York City-based luxury real estate marketplace Concierge Auctions is kicking off the new year in style with 10 diverse luxury real estate opportunities. The impressive lineup — which spans two US states, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom — will sell via the firm's Instant Gavel app, which allows potential buyers to bid in real-time from anywhere in the world. The diverse Januar...

By Wendy Anders If your house or condominium is valued at more than $231,000 you likely are required to pay an annual tax to the Costa Rican treasury, reported tax officials this week. Homeowners have until January 16 to pay their 2017 dues. Forms are available online to declare and submit payment at www.hacienda.go.cr or at public banks. Houses valued from $231,000 (126 million colone...

Neighbors of the west side of San Jose, will soon have the possibility of joining a new country club. The Santa Ana Country Club is a project that hopes to provide an option of healthy entertainment, social gathering and wellness to its members. Located on “Ruta 27” (the 27 highway) right across from the Villa Real Residential in Santa Ana, this country club will offer: gym, racquetball court, ...

“FreeHold Free Zone” is the name of the new free trade zone that will be located in Pacuarito of Siquirres, Limon; the size of the land is 588,793 square meters and the first stage involves building out 73,000 square meters distributed between offices and commercial spaces on the outside. According to Rogelio Douglas, CEO of Caribbean Sustainable Development Group, the environmental impact stud...

By Wendy Anders Marketwire reported today that Toronto, Canada-based Bravo Multinational Incorporated earlier this year partially acquired the Centro de Entretenimiento y Diversion Mombacho S.A., located in Managua, Nicaragua. Bravo to date has purchased 150 of a total contracted 500 slot and video poker gaming machines to be operated and managed under a long-term national license throug...

Source: Pure Hospitality Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. (OTC PINK: PNOW), parent Company of the Central American-Caribbean Online Travel Agency (OTA) Oveedia, announced today, that the Company is launching an international, bi-lingual newsletter, in conjunction with the release of the next iteration of Oveedia. "Here in Costa Rica, we have a very strong following and somewhat substantial ...

By Wendy Anders The Costa Rican Professional Accountant’s Association (CCPCR, in Spanish) will be holding a free consultation session tomorrow, Wednesday, August 31, at the Central Park in downtown San José from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. for micro, small, and medium businesses who have tax filing questions. The actividad is called “Free Certified Public Accountant for a Day,” and is timed one mo...

Source: NIS A New Jersey nanotechnology firm that provides solutions for industrial clients now has a presence in Costa Rica. In a recent statement, Nanotech Industrial Solutions (NIS) explained that it continues to improve their clients' performance by offering integrated solutions in lubrication, which can only be achieved by having alliances with high standard companies. NIS has come to...

Fitch Ratings-New York/San Salvador-24 August 2016: Fitch Ratings has affirmed the ratings for Banco BAC San Jose, S.A. (BAC San Jose) including the Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB-' and Long-Term Local Currency IDR at 'BBB'. A full list of ratings follows at the end of this press release. KEY RATING DRIVERS IDRs, NATIONAL RATINGS AND SENIOR DEBT Banco BAC San...

By Wendy Anders The country's largest housing fair, ExpoCasa, starts today, Wednesday August 24, and will run until Sunday 28 at ParqueViva in La Guácima de Alajuela. New homes starting at 35 million colones (about $63,000) are available as is financing for up to 40 years. Davivienda Bank is the main sponsor of the event which has brought together 84 real estate companies, 16 banks, two i...

Pixabay Commons More than 82 thousand direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs generated, a return of $3.179 billion on incentives received (Net Country Benefit), added to a major technology transfer, incorporation of key business innovations, dynamic productive linkages that galvanize the entry of small- and medium-sized businesses to the global economy, as well as the implementation of nove...

Costa Rica Zentrum Universität Osnabrück, part of the Lower Saxony state of northwestern Germany, recently inaugurated a unique collaboration program with seven universities in Costa Rica. The Costa Rica Zentrum at Universität Osnabrück aims to promote international and intercultural academic and scholarly exchange between Costa Rica and Germany. The Costa Rica Center's research profile and...

Managua - Wikimedia Commons The Latin American Business Council, known as CEAL, said Thursday that the region should take advantage of its assets to achieve shared prosperity. Being well-positioned in regard to the "great megatrends" of security in food, water and energy; sustainability; and peace demonstrates that Latin America is "part of the solution and not part of the problem," the pre...

Gulf of Papagayo MIAMI- Gencom, a leading U.S.-based international luxury hospitality and residential real estate investment and development firm, today announced the acquisition of Peninsula Papagayo Resort by a Gencom affiliate. The ownership acquired the 1,400-acre luxury master development in Costa Rica’s famed Guanacaste province for an undisclosed sum. Anchored by the award-winning, 182...

ICR-CRS Archive/FILE (Pictured: Workers at a multinational medical device manufacturing company's facility in Heredia, Costa Rica) By Wendy Anders The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its most recent edition of an annual series on Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America (June 2016) reported that FDI flows to Central America were up by 6 pe...

Pixabay Commons ST. LOUIS (August 12, 2016) – The U.S. soybean industry is a multi-faceted, global business, and 10 U.S. soybean farmers just got a closer look at how their soy checkoff works in that marketplace to all U.S. soybean farmers’ benefit. Sponsored by the United Soybean Board’s Audit and Evaluation (A&E) Committee, the See for Yourselfprogram connected these farmers with their c...

Wikimedia Commons Costa Rica is the second most innovative economy in Latin America, and it is ranked  45 in the world according to the Global Innovation Index. The index gave Costa Rica a 78.5 score in political stability and safety but only 50.1 in terms of government effectiveness. Moreover, Costa Rica's ease of doing business received a score of 81. The country is ranked 64 in the world...

By Wendy Anders Construction workers on the build site of Croc's Casino Resort in Jaco Beach Business leaders expressed their concerns over stagnant unemployment after 2nd quarter data was made public by the National Census and Statistics Institute (INEC, in Spanish). The INEC announced last week that 9.4 percent of the work force, or over 200,000 people, are unemployed, a figure that ha...

Affordable healthcare isn’t a myth. In fact, healthcare systems in other countries can be equally as good—if not better—than that in the U.S.—and charge far less for their services. As more and more U.S. retirees learn that better and faster healthcare is available abroad at a fraction of the cost they’re accustomed to paying at home, a growing number of them are opting to take advantage of what’...

Establishing a business enterprise in Costa Rica is a fairly straightforward process that has considerable immigration benefits for foreigners. Many foreign investors feel empowered to expand their businesses and make them profitable once they are residents; a few of them, however, choose to ignore national labor laws and hire foreign employees without the adequate immigration permits. The lega...

When choosing a back office and support solution for their business, one of the most important aspects that sports advisors should remember is that cheaper is never better. In fact, cheaper will often mean that a disaster is just waiting to happen. There is no doubt that the best solution for sports advisors these days can be found in Costa Rica, the country where the concept of Pay-Per-Head wa...

The Costa Rica No One Talks Abour François Sylvain is an entrepreneur, author, coach and investor raised in Montreal. After traveling across the United States and Europe, François went to Costa Rica to live his dream of living in a tropical climate. The father of four and grandfather of six has written a unique book about his experiences in Costa Rica. This is how he describes his memoir: ...

Photo: BusinessWire.com Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc., today announced a development agreement with Inversiones DBA-KKD de Costa Rica, SRL (“Inversiones”) to open 10 Krispy Kreme shops in Costa Rica in the next five years. “Costa Rica’s rapid market growth and consumer demand for sweet treats makes this the perfect time for Krispy Kreme to expand in the country,” said Dan Beem, Krispy Kreme ...

Auxis, a leader in providing performance-driven management consulting and outsourcing services and a pioneer in the Latin America Shared Services industry, announced today that its Founder and CEO Raul Vega will again serve as Chairperson for the upcoming 10th Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Latin America scheduled for August 22-24, 2016 at The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove in Miami, FL...

Source: Banco Central Latin American and Caribbean countries will show a -0.8% contraction in their growth rate in 2016, marking a steeper decline than in 2015 (-0.5%) and with very heterogeneous behavior among countries and subregions, according to a new report released today by ECLAC. Costa Rica shows moderate growth; her Central American neighbors to the north and south are expected to grow...

Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, Inc. (NBWW), along with Costa Rican partner Alberto Reifer & Arquitectos, are delighted to announce they will design Sabana Capital, the latest icon in real estate in San Jose, Costa Rica. Developed by H-Solis, the urban development will be the largest mixed-use real estate development in the history of Central America. Located in the heart of Co...