The public sector felt to be the most corrupt is still Nicaragua (transparency level 26 on a scale from 0 to 100), followed by Guatemala (28), Honduras (30), El Salvador (36), Panama (38) and Costa Rica (58).
In 2016 the perception of corruption in public institutions increased in all Central American countries except Guatemala, where it remained as in 2015 and in Costa Rica, where it fell.
Business management is the resource which determines the success or failure of a business, and the quality of that management determines, unfailingly, the market.
EDITORIAL
In Costa Ricaastate run bankand anagricultural cooperativehave once again been rescued from insolvency and the mismanagement of their managers, using, as it would not have been possible any other way, money belonging to taxpayers.
The choice of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States is another clear example of how the deterioration of liberal democracies enlightens the way for the emergence of authoritarian leaders.
EDITORIAL
(Both the article by Kevin Casas on Nacion.com as well as this editorial prologue on CentralAmericaData.com were written one day before the presidential election in the United States, when the prognosis was that Hillary Clinton had a more than 80% chance of win the election.)
Mimicking countries in the Bolivarian Alliance by snubbing the president of Brazil in the UN confirms the ideological inconsistency of a government that on the one hand has ministers who support free international trade and others who practice blatant protectionism.
EDITORIAL
This inconsistency was already a concern in Costa Rican business sectors, and now after the outburst by Luis Guillermo Solís in the United Nations General Assembly, bewilderment is being expressed.For a small economy like Costa Rica, is vital that there is coherence in relations with other countries and especially with powers such as Brazil.
One bright spring morning a garden flourished gloriously and everybody wanted flowers. John said "I deserve 10" and the gardener gave him 10 flowers. "I want to take 11" said Peter, and 11 were handed over to him. "I demand 12" protested Manuel, and he got 12. "I want 13" shouted Joseph, and he received his 13 flowers. A lot of people called out their demands and got what they asked for. In the end there was only one somewhat wilted flower left that was given to a mute person with no name. And the gardener was acclaimed for his generosity.
But the following spring the garden produced much fewer flowers, in spite of this, John tried to take his 10, Peter his 11, Manuel his 12 and Joseph his 13 flowers. "That is what corresponds to us," they shouted. "It is our right" they claimed. And they hired a lawyer who filed a lawsuit to force the gardener to deliver what belonged to them by "acquired right". And the judge, who was Manuel, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
Profiteering is defined as the conduct of individuals, social groups, professionals or entrepreneurs who achieve income above the value of the goods or services that are eventually produced.
EDITORIAL
An opinion article in Nacion.com accurately reviews the degradation of Costa Rica's political and economic work, and says"clientelism, corporatism, nepotism, cronyism, influence peddling, conflict of interest, crony capitalism"are the current characteristics of Costa Rican society.
In El Salvador, the decision taken by the Sanchez Ceren administration not to attend the main business event in the country reveals either disinclination, inability to govern, or simple political manichaeism.
EDITORIAL
Maybe it is a persistence of visualizing the world as it was in the last century, dividing it into two antagonistic parties, capital on the one hand and labour on the other.
The real entrepreneurs and CEOs do not need a state official, who will never be an entrepreneur, to tell them how to run a company and increase revenues.
EDITORIAL
In Costa Rica, the government continues to believe that state officials can show employers how to do their job and how to generate wealth.
Having failed in its task of promoting favorable conditions in infrastructure, training and availability of human resources, access to credit and facilitating paperwork for the creation and growth of private enterprises, swift and effective commercial trade justice, the pachydermic state apparatus in Costa Rica continues to create bureaucratic organizations to "develop production" and obliterates others that yesterday were touted as the miracle food for the country's development. The new invention, this time from the Solis administration, is the Productive Development Agency, for Innovation and Added Value which of course already has a corresponding and always imaginative short name: FOMPRODUCE.
State officials do not own the information they manage, and when that information has not been legally declared as reserved, they must ensure its availability to the public.
EDITORIAL
And 'availability´means that public institutions must have all the doors to obtain it wide open, both administratively and technically.
State officials often create administrative barriers to free access to public information, in the form of lengthy bureaucratic processes, including sometimes filling out forms that include insidious questions about what the information will be used for.
Excessive government guarantees and errors in the tender processes are two of the "Seven Deadly Sins of Deficient Public-Private Partnerships" says the World Bank.
A report from the institution highlights the main mistakes made in the process of building partnerships between governments and private companies for financing and developing productive infrastructure.
With objectives similar to those of the CICIG in Guatemala , the MACCIH now has legislative backing and funds to begin its task of fighting corruption, an obstacle to the economic and social development of Honduras.
Following approval in the Honduran Congress of the agreement signed by President Juan Orlando Hernandez and the Organization of American States (OAS) to set up the Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH by its initials in Spanish), the delegate in Honduras of the hemispheric body announced that funding for setting up a new body to fight prevailing corruption, independent of the constitutional powers of the country, is now available.
Using its corporate power and taking advantage of the power vacuum that is afflicting the State, a public university in Costa Rica is paying first world salaries, exacerbating the inequality that exists between Costa Ricans and severely distorting the labor market.
EDITORIAL
The degeneration of democracy which is happening in a lot of Latin American countries has Costa Rica as an example, a country which historically used to be a shining example of the best way to live in society.
This is the aim of the bill that would expunge ex-convict's criminal records so that they can find work without their potential employers knowing about their criminal past.
EDITORIAL
The vast majority of people resolve their economic and existential problems without resorting to crime. They are obliged to act this way because of the education they received in their homes, where they were taught not only be honest and law-abiding, but also to distrust those who are not. From children we learn to discriminate between bad and good, an essential life skill. We need to distinguish between food that is good and food that is harmful to our health. We must be able to distinguish between an honest business and one that is not. That's life, continuous decision making based on our knowledge and values which is what also should govern conduct in society.
A government proposal seeks to generate in 5 years $13,000 billion worth of investment in tourism, textiles, intermediate manufacturing and business support services.
From a statement issued by the President of Honduras:
Tegucigalpa, February 29. President Juan Orlando Hernández presented the National Economic Development Program 20/20 Honduras, the largest platform for growth promoted in the country's history, focusing on tourism, textiles, intermediate manufacturing and business support services, which will generate 600,000 jobs in five years, among other objectives.
If emergency measures are not taken, Central America will soon collapse into failed states dominated by criminal organizations who are able to buy political power.
This is the dramatic but realistic conclusion reached by a study on the subject carried out by a coalition of Guatemalan institutions composed of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations (CACIF), the National Economic Research Center (CIEN) the Foundation for the Development of Guatemala (FUNDESA) and Fundación G.