In the first quarter of 2020, just before the crisis generated by covid-19 began, there were 72,972 formal businesses registered in Costa Rica. In the second quarter the figure fell 6% and by September there was a slight recovery.
Data from the Costa Rican Social Security Fund indicate that between the first and second quarters of the year the number of registered companies fell from 72,972 to 68,946.
The country which used to stand out in the region because of its good relative level of economic, social and educational development, is accelerating its march downhill in terms of productive competitiveness, income distribution and training.
EDITORIAL
A national entrepreneur's comments about how his half a century old company has no market problems and is in full swing in the phase of increasing investment, but can no longer keep production in the country because Costa Rica "has become very expensive and high risk", is confirmation of the march downhill of the real economy.
The Panamanian Autonomous Cooperative Institute yesterday ordered the liquidation of the Savings and Credit Cooperative for Employees of the Social Security Fund, due to irregularities in its operations.
Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Empleados de la Caja de Seguro Social (Coacecss), was seized in June last year, triggered by an "administrative and financial deterioration" in its handling, specifically for opening foreign accounts for excessive amounts on the entity's balance sheet.
The Secretary of Labor, Felicito Avila, recognizes the obstacles that bureaucracy puts in the way of investors.
While a new call center, funded with Guatemalan capital, starts operations in San Pedro Sula giving jobs to hundreds of young people, another, backed with Philippino capital, is closing because of the slowness or refusal of the authorities to grant free zone privileges, and is about to make about 600 workers redundant.
By the end of September 3.445 companies have stopped operating, representing a 15% increase compared with the same period of 2008.
The Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (SAT), the tax and revenue service in Guatemala modified the necessary steps that a company needs to follow in order to close its doors, with the purpose of easing the procedure.
The closing of Raíces Cubanas and Tabacaleras Unidas tobacco companies, among others, in the communities of Danlí y Paraíso, has left 3,500 unemployed.
Miguel Angel Berrios, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Danlí said that the economic impact caused by the closing of these factories is still unknown.
In statements to Elheraldo.hn, Berrios says: "We have seen the impact of the international financial crisis in the lack of purchase orders for Havana Cigars from cigar stores and customers in the United States, where 80% of the production of Honduran cigars goes. The industry provides employment for about 20 thousand people."
Beverage Industry Digital Magazine established in 1942, the oldest Spanish trade journal and the only beverage trade magazine serving the Latin American beverage market. It serves soft drink bottlers, brewers, bottled water...