Due to the precariousness of the English language, in recent years’ companies in the Contact Center & BPO sector have decided to close thousands of jobs in the region and relocate their investments to other markets where they have no difficulty in recruiting qualified personnel.
Reports at a global level show that the command of English is one of the weaknesses at a Central American level.
The health and economic crisis will result in a reordering of foreign investment at the global level, and countries like Central America will have the opportunity to take advantage of their geographical position to attract fresh capital.
The outbreak of covid-19 worldwide will cause a drop in production in 2020, however, by 2021 and 2022 the forecasts of international organizations anticipate that economic activity could rebound, a rise that would be coupled with new investments in various markets and sectors.
Stryker, a medical technology company, opened a new financial services center to be located in the province of Heredia, from where it will support all its financial activities in the Americas.
The operation is in San Antonio Business Park, in Heredia, where the company opened its offices since last April, according to official information.
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).
The reported drop in investment in the tourism sector explains part of the 22% drop recorded in Foreign Direct Investment between 2017 and 2018 in Costa Rica.
Figures from the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) detail that between 2017 and 2018 the flow that reached the country fell by $608 million, from $2,742 million to $2,134 million, equivalent to a decrease of 22%.
IBM announced that this year it plans to invest in the expansion of its Global Security Services Center in Heredia, Costa Rica.
The expansion triples its operating capacity and will mean a $21 million investment throughout 2019, informed the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (Cinde) in a statement.
From the Cinde statement:
Costa Rica, April 4, 2019 - In an official event attended by the Government of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (CINDE), IBM announced the expansion of the operations of IBM's Global Security Services Center, in Heredia, in the America Free Zone, from where security events are monitored for hundreds of clients in more than 130 countries.
Akamai, a company dedicated to cybersecurity solutions and technical support services, invested $6 million in the refurbishment of its new headquarters in the country.
The company projects a payroll growth of around 30% at the end of 2019. The company's new headquarters are on three floors of the Roble Corporate Center.
Foreign Direct Investment decreased from $1.658 million to $1.199 million between the first half of 2017 and the same period in 2018.
According to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica reported a decrease in the flow of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the first half of 2018, contrasts with the increase of 52% recorded in the same period last year, given that between the first six months of 2016 and the same period in 2017, the flow went from $1.088 million to $1.658 million.
Partly explained by the regimes created to encourage investment in different sectors, countries in the region went from receiving $11 billion in 2016, to $12.1 billion last year.
According to a study by the Center for Economic Integration Studies, in 2017 inflows of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the region reached a record figure of $12.083 billion, registering an increase of 9.8% compared to 2016.When analyzing the period from 2010 to 2017, it can be seen that the inflow of FDI has increased considerably, showing a growth rate of 7.9%.
A 15% tax, charged by the Treasury on income from interest generated on foreign investments in securities in the local market, has been described as incorrect.
A ruling by the Attorney General of the Republic indicates the charge of 15% by the Treasury on interest earned by foreigners on their investments in securities in the local stock market is incorrect and it should be 8%, as is charged to local investors.
The high-tech company Microtechnologies has announced the construction of a new 9,500 square meter manufacturing plant in an industrial park in Coyol, Alajuela.
From a statement issued by Desarrolladores Inmobiliarios 4D:
4D to build high tech manufacturing plant in Coyol
· The investment for the new plant amounts to $15 million
Desarrolladores Inmobiliarios 4D is leading the financing, design and construction of the manufacturing plant for the multinational high technology company Microtechnologies (MTI) .
Tax Memorandum of Tezó and Associates on the verification of the information presented in the annual declaration of income tax.
Tax Memorandum by Tezó and Associates:
In March 2015 the SAT sent an email containing a reminder to some Special Taxpayers in respect to the maturity of the annual Income Tax affidavit (ISR). This email includes he notice with the following paragraph: "In April 2015, the SAT will verify the information presented in the annual ISR affidavit, for which reason it asks, among other things, for the integration of non-deductible expenses and receivables reported and declared. "
38% of the colombian companies who have invested in the country are dedicated to services, 28% to industry, 11% to construction and 23% to tourism, commerce or agriculture.
The service, food and manufacturing sectors are generating the most interest among Colombian investors, who in the last ten years have invested about $750 million in Costa Rica. Data from Procolombia added that in the same period, the Central American country has invested just $269 million in Colombia.
The purchase by the German company of the assets of Conceptus include a Patent for an intertubal contraceptive device which will go into production at the Metropolitan Free Zone in Heredia.
Bayer announced that the plant will be producing a new permanent birth control device. The first stage of the plant has been in operation since October 2014, dedicated to assembly and other tasks in the manufacturing process, but the product has not yet been marketed or exported because it is now in the certification stage.
Zollner Elektronik AG Germany has invested $15 million in a manufacturing plant in the province of Cartago, where it will produce printed circuit boards for industrial equipment.
From a statement issued by the Government of Costa Rica:
The German electronics manufacturing company Zollner Elektronik AG has opened its plant in Costa Rica, its first company in Latin America.