The analysis of data and large volumes of images, combined with the implementation of innovative methodologies, allows companies to size up how many of their products could be marketed in outlets classified as informal.
More and more companies need to identify and estimate, with precision, what portion of their market they may not be serving. At the same time, they need to gauge the likelihood that their products are being sold in places that are classified as informal. In many cases, the actual size of the parallel market that these types of establishments make up is not always on the radar of manufacturing and distribution companies.
As a result of the restrictions imposed by the Guatemalan Government, local businessmen estimate that sales in the commercial sector last weekend fell by up to 50% and the number of customers in restaurants and shopping centers decreased considerably.
In order to promote actions aimed at interrupting the epidemiological chain of the Covid-19 disease, Ministerial Agreement 87-2021 was published on April 17 in the Diario de Centroamerica, a regulatory framework that requires a 25% reduction in the capacity of shopping malls, commercial centers, convenience stores and restaurants.
After the UCCAEP in Costa Rica began to negotiate the lifting of the blockades with the self-proclaimed group Rescate Nacional, promoter of the protests, several business chambers distanced themselves from that decision and others have expressed their support.
Given the wave of protests and blockades that have been reported in the country, which arose after it was reported that to access a loan from the International Monetary Fund for $1.75 billion, the government planned to tax financial transactions, raise the tax on the profits of companies and persons, and increase the tax on real estate. The Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (UCCAEP) decided to negotiate the lifting of the blockades.
In Costa Rica, the new commercial reality requires restaurants to operate with a capacity of 50%; however, since they maintain the same level of fixed costs, the losses of this sector could exceed 20%.
For more than four months, when the first cases of covid-19 were reported in the country, consumers have been subjected to severe restrictions on mobility and restaurants were forced to operate in conditions unfavorable to their finances.
Some of the most notable effects caused by the spread of covid-19 is the cancellation of at least 8,000 hotel nights in Costa Rica, and the interruption by Iberia of its flights from Madrid to Guatemala and San Salvador.
Businessmen in the region agree that due to the virus that has been spreading from China, supply chains have been interrupted, which is combined with a drop in the transit of people, causing losses to the tourism sector.
A drop in the flow of tourists to the region, cancellation of reservations and the suspension of flights are part of the expected consequences of the spread of the virus worldwide.
According to the report prepared by the Central Bank of Costa Rica called "Commentary on the national economy for February 2020", derived from the outbreak of pneumonia caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus (coronavirus) is expected to report a negative impact on the influx of tourists to the country.
Because Financia Capital S.A. does not have the funds available to meet its obligations, it was revoked the authorization to make a public offering of fixed income securities.
The Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif) informed that its authorization was revoked because "... the representatives of the issuer Financia Capital S.A.
After nine days of strikes by public officials in Costa Rica, tour operators, hotels and restaurants in different parts of the country are reporting that reservations are being cancelled and sales are plummeting.
The strike being promoted by the country's public unions started on Monday, September 6, and has already caused millions of dollars worth of losses due to multiple road blocks and acts of sabotage in the fuel distribution chain, among other coercive measures.
The sector's union has estimated that for the 2017-2018 harvest 2.4 million hundredweight of beans will could have been produced, but due to climate effects, only 1.9 million hundredweight will be collected.
According to the Salvadoran Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (Field), with the 500 thousand hundredweight of beans that will not be collected in the period 2017-2018, $25 million will be lost, as each hundredweight is valued at $50.
In Nicaragua, retail companies estimate that the damages caused to their facilities and inventory, together with the drop in consumption, have already generated losses of $70 million.
In the same vien as the situation reported by companies in the tourism sector days ago, the Chamber of Commerce and Services of Nicaragua (CCSN) has reported that due to the crisis affecting the country, entrepreneurs engaged in commercial activities have recorded losses of approximately $10 million in their facilities, $26 million in damage to their inventories and $35 million in damages to consumption.
In Costa Rica, the financial supervisor recommended the Congress to apply the state guarantee to Bancredito and merge it with another public banking entity.
Luis Carlos Delgado, president of the National Council of Supervision of the Financial System (Conassif), "... confirmed to Nacion.com that (last week) they approved, in a definitive manner, the final report on the intervention of Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago (Bancredito), which concludes that the entity is no longer financially viable."
The losses reported by the National Power and Light Company (Compañía Nacional de Fuerza Luz) in 2015 amount to almost half of what it owes in bond issues.
The CNFL, is a subsidiary of the ICE Group, which is headed by Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), also dedicated to production and distribution of electricity.
An article on Elfinancierocr.com reports that "...
Consumers money is still being used to fund losses by the state-owned internet service provider, which have exceeded $100 million in the last six years.
At the expense of consumers - via prices for energy and telecommunications- Costa Rica is still keeping running state enterprises whose inefficiency has been proven. This time, Nacion.com reported that the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) covered the losses of Radiographic Costarricense (RACSA) with lending and a capital injection to that subsidiary.
The state run oil company in Costa Rica registered losses above $24 million during the first nine months of 2015, despite having the highest prices in the region.
In the first nine months of 2015 the Costa Rican Oil Refinery lost more than $24 million. The state run company, which has had a monopoly in refining and sale of fuels in Costa Rica for more than half a century, has payroll costs representing 56% of its total expenditure.
Suspension of the work on the hydroelectric project Barro Blanco caused by the blockades set up by locals preventing access to the site, has caused huge losses.
From a statement from Generadora del Istmo, SA (Genisa)
GENISA reiterates urgent need to end Barro Blanco Strikes
(Panama, June 24, 2015) The environmental and economic consequences of the suspension of work in Barro Blanco, caused by an illegal blockade at the entrance to the project, is worrying managers of Generadora del Istmo, S.A., who are warning that there is an urgent need to continue the works approved by the Government.