Some companies can become richer than others overnight, depending on decisions made by a few public officials.
Editorial
An article in Elfinancierocr.com reports on the positive effects of the devaluation of the national currency of Costa Rica, the-Colón, agains the dollar, for exporters in the country.
The causes of the devaluation were mainly external, but were catalyzed by decisions made by public officials, the Central Bank, whose missive it is to defend the value of the national currency, because this supposedly contributes to the economy.
Another example of the shortcomings of GDP as an indicator of the economic health of a country has been provided by an analysis of the actual effects of the exit of Intel from Costa Rica compared to the supposed catastrophic ones according to the indicator.
Around the world, negative opinions are growing in regards to using Gross Domestic Product as a key indicator for a country's economy.
In the region the level of sales tax evasion is around 33% on average.
From a statement from the Central Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi):
The Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies presents the seventh edition of its analysis of the situation in Costa Rica.
Icefi: It is urgent that the two contending political parties specify a plan that will allow them to balance fiscal accounts and fulfill their campaign promises.
Plaza del Este held the Forum on Prospects and Competitiveness Analysis in Panama 2014 in the Hotel Westin Costa Del Este, for a selected group of local businessmen and representatives of multinationals.
The project for creating corporate offices is being developed by Empresas Bern together with Grupo Corporativo Pérez, the latter being well known authorized distributors of the Toyota and Lexus brands in Panama.
In Honduras the same ratio is 20%, in Panama 12%, 15% in Nicaragua, and in El Salvador and Guatemala 4%.
EDITORIAL:
At the global level similar percentages are seen in Brunei Darussalam with 21%, Paraguay with 19%, Malaysia 15%, Trinidad and Tobago 14%, Belarus 12%, and Iraq 10%.
The data comes from calculating the relationship between the respective Gross Domestic Product in 2011 (according to the World Bank) and the average illicit flows of money from every country in the years 2002-2011, according to the Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries report, 2002-2011.
While Nicaragua and Panama have sustainable levels of public debt, for El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica the prognosis is "reserved" .
Recent analysis by the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi) reflects very different fiscal situations in each country.
An article in Prensalibre.com states that "data from the report indicates that the country with the greatest debt is El Salvador, as in 2011 it reached 50% of GDP, in 2012 it increased to 52% and it is expected to reach about 54% in 2013.
The amount of remittances from one Central American country to another now reaches $1 billion.
Revistamyt.com reports: "The money transfer company AirPak, representative of Western Union (WU) in Central America, has announced the start of a strategy that aims to compete in the market of remittances sent by internal migrants in the isthmus."
According to Carlos De Paredes, manager of the company in Guatemala, the local market is worth around $300 million and about $1 billion at the regional level. The firm has no presence in Panama.
Businessmen who struggle everyday to keep their businesses going should keep this topic in mind when being asked to pay more taxes.
No economy that wants to be competitive can support the idea that the average number of sick days taken by workers at its main port terminal is 29.7 per year.
Of course these are state employees. And of course the union of these workers, doesn't want to know anything about privatization nor have private companies performing the same tasks.
Analysis of debt sustainability in Central America, economic growth, inflation, revaluation and management of the fiscal deficit.
Central America Fiscal Lens No. 5 reported that gross domestic production in Central America in 2012 amounted to U.S. $184.000 million. The fastest growing economies were Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
As for exports, although they grew by 7.1%, they were quite far from the 20.5% achieved in 2011.
World Bank statistics show that every day, about $1.3 billion are paid in bribes related to state contracts.
The figures were mentioned by Michael Kramer, a consultant at the entity, who is taking part in the forum "Preventing and combating corruption and collusion in public procurements", taking place in Panama.
"... In addition to cash bribes for the award of contracts in recent years the practice has spread to awarding projects to companies created by officials," reported Prensa.com. Sometimes they are consultancies or suppliers that have no references or physical offices.
The stagnation of competitiveness in Latin America demonstrates a need for structural reforms and investments which increase productivity.
• The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14 indicates that competitiveness is stagnating in Latin America and reforms and investments to ensure future economic growth are long overdue.
• Excellence in innovation and robust institutions are increasingly important factors for achieving competitiveness.
Corruption, insecurity and political instability are the main factors preventing the country from making progress.
This was revealed by the competitiveness ranking report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF), in which the country fell three places ranking 111 out of the 148 countries evaluated.
"... Honduras seems held back in the 12 indicators assessed by the institution, but some factors stand out such as ease of financing, bank stability, trade openness, technology transfer and a high rate of school enrollment at primary level," noted an article in Laprensa. hn.
The Central American Economic Integration Secretariat has provided a summary and analysis of the main stylized facts of the macroeconomic situation in Central America, during the first quarter of 2013.
The report provides an analysis and summary of the main facts of the macroeconomic situation in Central America and the world.
Highlighted in the report is a slow down in growth in emerging economies such as China, and the persistent nature of the recession in the Eurozone, these effects appear to be important risk factors for the recovery of the world economy.
the report presents a series of statistics and relevant findings on key demographic, social, economic, environmental and regional policies.
From the introduction:
This document is a tool for Central American societies which can be used for monitoring, analysis and constructing knowledge about the advances and letdowns in sustainable human development in the region during the first decade of the century.
Productivity benefits the state and private enterprise, employers, employees and the unemployed. It benefits the rich, the middle class and the poor.
An opinion piece by Jose Alberto Soto Golcher analyzes pre-election activity in Costa Rica, pointing out how "romantic" the general tone of the speeches are and the proposals by political parties and candidates, and in general, how society is dealing with the problems facing the country.