Understanding the economic environment the company is facing, generating projections in real time and having the opinion of external consultants to the organization, are some of the strategies that could help companies in times of low sales.
In Central America, during the first half of the year, some economies reported declines in their productive activity.
In Costa Rica, yields on these investment instruments have been declining since 2017 and even more this year, partly because of the increase in the unemployment rate of real estate.
The prices of real estate investment fund shares on the stock market have fallen significantly in the last year. Economist Adriana Rodríguez, director of the consulting firm Frecuencia Económica, explains what to expect in the medium and short term.
The risk premium demanded by investors for the Costa Rican international bond due in 2023 rose from 2.10% to 2.56% between June and September 2014.
Investors could be moving towards a degradation of the sovereign rating of the country, a possibility already suggested by Fitch rating agency.
An article on Nacion.com reports that "... Since last June, the extra rate of return that foreign savers demand for Costa Rican Government's securities in respect to United States Treasuries (so-called risk premium or margin) has gone. "
In the last 30 days the price of the dollar against the Colon went from 557 colones to 540.4 colones in the Monex wholesale market.
The decision to remove the non-fiinancial public entities from the wholesale market and less demand for foreign currency in recent weeks are the reasons for the drop of 17 colones in the price of the dollar.
"... The non-bank public sector stopped purchasing foreign exchange in Monex on 11 June.
The increased perception of risk generated by the fiscal deficit has forced the government to offer a higher rate than the one agreed a year ago for the same issuance.
The Government of Costa Rica issued $1 billion in debt on the international market with a 30 year term and an interest rate of 7%, higher than the rate of 5.63% set a year ago in an issue also for $1 billion over 30 years.
Macroeconomic indicators revised by the Central Bank reveal a sharp slowdown in export processing zones, industry and agriculture.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "during the first quarter economic growth has been practically nil. With the adjustment, the variation of the Monthly Index of Economic Activity (MIEA) for the first four months of the year is 0.2%. A year earlier growth was 1.4%. "
The banking system's need to raise money in foreign currency and other internal factors are pushing rates upward.
This is the projection by Adriana Rodriguez, head of strategy at Aldesa. "In the U.S., information from the most recent meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve has fueled speculation that the bank's policies to stimulate the U.S. economy are entering final stages," noted an article in Elfinancierocr.com.
A new placement of Eurobonds has caused bond prices to drop, both in the domestic and the international market.
Nacion.com reports that "the most notorious drop is in the external trading bond which matures in 2023, which was issued last year and whose price in January reached 104%, and which on April 2 traded at 100.86%. "
Douglas Montero, Manager of Floor Trading and International Trading at Mercado de Valores said that "Bond prices are down as a sign that investors are making space for the new issue."
Investment in short-term debt in colones has better performance than the long term.
For investment instruments in colones, such as government bonds, the short and medium term show better yields, while long have tended to decline.
"In dollars, the behavior is different. Experts consulted by El
Financiero reported that the momentum is pointing to a decline in interest in the coming months, therefore in this currency it may be wise to bet on a longer period and thus take advantage of higher levels of interest.
While the Central Bank of Costa Rica projected economic growth of 4.3% for 2011, the Aldesa Group anticipates that the country will grow between 3.7% and 4%.
It is unlikely that domestic production will increase by more than 4%, said Aldesa analyst Adriana Rodriguez, given the economic slowdown in the agricultural and manufacturing industry coupled with the lower projected growth in the United States.