Alejandro Giammattei, elected president of Guatemala, will propose to the authorities of the North American country that a special economic zone covering both sides of the border be developed.
Guatemala's president-elect is wasting no time, since four months after taking office, he is already making investment proposals to neighboring countries. In this case, he will do so in Mexico, where on September 20 he will meet with Lopez Obrador and will deliver a file on the issues he proposes to work on in the coming years.
In Guatemala, businessmen are asking the incoming government to create a public policy on foreign investment that incorporates issues such as fair and equitable treatment of investments, the minimum standard of treatment and the definition of arbitrariness.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country is not having its best moment, as figures from the Bank of Guatemala indicate that in 2018 the flow captured was $1.031 million, 12% less than the $1.170 million reported in 2017. See official data.
Panama and Honduras were the only two Central American countries to report increases in foreign direct investment in 2018 over the previous year, with year-on-year changes of 36% and 3%, respectively.
The growth of investments directed to Panama, which concentrated 51% of the sub-regional total, explained the increase that was reached in 2018 in Central America (9.4%), since except Panama and Honduras, the Central American countries received less Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) than in 2017, explains the report "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2019", produced by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
In El Salvador, it is proposed that the law discussed in the Assembly, considers the reduction of minimum requirements for investments made in special economic zones, to compensate for the disadvantages of lack of productive activity in the area.
In July 2018, the Executive Branch presented to the Legislative Assembly the draft Law on Special Economic Zones (LZEE), which is being analyzed by the Economy Commission.
Because of higher dividend repatriation and lower reinvestment of earnings, Foreign Direct Investment flows reported during the first quarter of the year totaled $177 million, 55% less than in the same period in 2018.
Central Reserve Bank (BCR) figures detail that between January and March 2018, and the same period in 2019, the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was reduced by $224 million, falling from $401 million to $177 million.
The Yamaha distributor in Costa Rica invested $5 million in the construction of a 4,000-square-meter building with a sales room, workshop and a parts store.
Lutz Hermanos y Compañía, distributor of the aforementioned motorcycle brand, inaugurated its new building in front of Capris, in La Uruca, San José.
Last year, foreign direct investment in the country reached $1.855 million, 5% more than in 2017, mainly because of the behavior of industrial and commercial activity.
The industrial sector maintained its leadership as the sector with the highest net foreign direct investment, recording a net amount of $579.6 million, which results in a 28.6% growth, and represented 69% of the total net flow, explains a report from the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).
During last year, foreign direct investment flows in the country totaled $5.549 million, 21% more than in 2017.
The most recent figures from the General Comptroller's Office of Panama detail that between 2017 and 2018 the flow of Foreign Direct Investment increased by $980 million, going from $4.569 million to $5.549 million.
Figures show that for the years concerned, reinvested earnings grew 4%, from $3.168 million to $3.281 million.
During 2018, Guatemala received $1.175 million in FDI, barely 0.5% more than the investment reported in 2017, mainly because of the political and legal uncertainty that ruled the country.
Figures from the Banco de Guatemala (Banguat) report that in the last five years, the country has gained $6,139 million in foreign direct investment (FDI), being 2014 the one that registered the highest year-on-year increase when reporting a 7% rate regarding 2013.
Mariott International, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels and Ritz-Carlton Reserve, presented to Dominican Republic authorities their plans to develop luxury tourism projects in Puerto Plata.
From the statement of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic:
December 11th, 2018. A group of foreign investors met today with President Danilo Medina and expressed their interest in transforming the country's northern coast into a luxury tourism destination.
Businessmen in Nicaragua expect to reduce by at least 50% the investments they had previously planned for 2018, waiting for the problems affecting the country to be solved.
The research by the Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada (Cosep) and the Fundación Nicaragüense para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (Funides), takes place in the context of more than 160 days of political and social crisis, which has severely affected the performance of the country's economy.
Israeli government officials have announced that they plan to invest close to $2 billion in various businesses in the sectors of agriculture, medicine and education.
The investment will be made through the Guatemalan-Israel Fund for Investment and Development in Guatemala, and this seeks to make the Central American country the center of Israeli business in the region.
Through an agreement with the business sector, the government of Honduras has announced that it intends to simplify procedures for licenses and registration of companies.
As part of a plan to facilitate private investment, the Hernandez administration has announced that they will also be talking with mayors so that local governments facilitate the operation of companies nationwide. In addition they"... announced that from April they will start using customs' forward looking statement."
Industrialists are demanding that the Constitutional Court rule on the request for legal protection that was granted in favor of an environmental group and which is keeping the mine's operations in a state of paralysis.
The project has been paralyzed since an environmental organization filed an request for legal protection against the mine, arguing that the Ministry of Energy and Mines did not carry out the necessary community consultations before authorizing the licenses.
It has been announced that public use regulations that will allow construction of hotels, restaurants, transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure within protected areas will be issued midyear.
The regulation is being prepared by the Tourism Authority of Panama, the Panamanian Chamber of Tourism and the Ministry of Environment, as part of the EcoturAP project, announced by the Varela administration in March this year. This initiative aims to exploit protected areas in order to develop sustainable and ecological tourism.