After the Legislative Assembly ratified the country's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the business sector is of the opinion that this will help consolidate the institutional reforms needed to make the State more efficient.
The Assembly informed that by approving in the second debate the bill 22.187, which contains the agreement on the terms of accession, the deputies gave the green light to Costa Rica's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In Costa Rica, since July 2020 the producer price index for the manufacturing sector started to report increases, a situation that could lead to a rise in sales prices and simultaneously to a fall in the quantity of products traded.
Between December 2019 and June 2020, the producer price index for the manufacturing sector (IPP-MAN) reported negative year-on-year variations.
After the UCCAEP in Costa Rica began to negotiate the lifting of the blockades with the self-proclaimed group Rescate Nacional, promoter of the protests, several business chambers distanced themselves from that decision and others have expressed their support.
Given the wave of protests and blockades that have been reported in the country, which arose after it was reported that to access a loan from the International Monetary Fund for $1.75 billion, the government planned to tax financial transactions, raise the tax on the profits of companies and persons, and increase the tax on real estate. The Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (UCCAEP) decided to negotiate the lifting of the blockades.
Facing the proposal of the authorities to abolish the banking secrecy in the country, businessmen of the industrial sector are opposed, because they argue that there are already legal procedures in the country to do it through a judge.
At a press conference on February 11, Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves defended the proposal to access sensitive information from taxpayers and said that by lifting banking secrecy they were seeking to tackle tax evasion.
In Costa Rica, businessmen from the industrial sector expect that next year the levels of economic activity will improve and the process of reactivation of production will be consolidated.
The Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC) believes that in 2019 the country engaged in a spiral of uncertainty, as businessmen and consumers were affected by the application of value added tax (VAT) and changes in the income tax.
With the election of Alvaro Saenz Saborío as the new president of UCCAEP, the Chamber of Industries and the Chamber of Banana Growers decided to return to the largest business association in Costa Rica.
In Costa Rica, a bill is being discussed that seeks to combat adulteration and smuggling of alcoholic beverages, but the business sector believes that if approved, the result could be an increase in illegal trafficking.
The project called "Law against adulteration and smuggling of alcoholic beverages", proposes the use of technological tools to combat smuggling, imitation and adulteration of alcoholic beverages.
High operating costs and the contraction of internal consumption are some of the reasons why in Costa Rica manufacturing companies under definitive regime report a decrease in their production, a situation that contrasts with the dynamism of companies in free trade zones.
The latest report on economic activity in the country, compiled by the Central Bank of Costa Rica explains that manufacturing grew 2.3% mainly because the free zone companies maintained a high growth (10.8%), which more than compensated for the decrease in production of the definitive regime (-2.5%).
In Costa Rica, the Legislative Assembly ratified the ban on the import, marketing and distribution of expanded polystyrene containers, better known as styrofoam.
With the approval in Second Debate of file 19.833 "Addition of an article 42 bis, a paragraph d) to article 50 and the transitory XIII, XIV and XV to the Law for the Integral Management of Waste, No.
The outlook for the country's manufacturing industry is unfavorable, since in the first four months of the year companies outside the free trade zone reported a 5% year-on-year drop in their sales abroad.
Consistent with the behavior reported since the beginning of the year, in the first four months’ sales of Costa Rican goods abroad remained stagnant, totaling $3,693 million, just 0.2% above the figure reported in April 2018.
Reducing social security contributions, lowering the price of electricity and simplifying procedures in the country are part of the changes proposed by Costa Rica's private sector to reactivate the economy.
Representatives of different productive sectors agree that immediate actions focused on improving the performance of the Costa Rican economy should be implemented.
During the first three months of the year, sales of Costa Rican goods abroad totaled $2.757 million, just 0.5% above the $2.744 million reported as of March 2018.
The most updated data of the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer) specify that from January to March of this year the exports of companies in free trade zones registered a 12% year-on-year increase, and in the case of foreign sales of products in final regime fell 9%.
For Costa Rican businessmen, the neighboring country is a very important market, since it is dedicated to logistics, trade and financial intermediation, and demands different types of goods produced by Costa Rica.
In 2018 Costa Rican exports to the Panamanian market totaled $606 million, which positioned Panama as the fourth most important destination for foreign sales, surpassed only by the United States, Holland and Belgium.
The bill presented by the Executive Branch of Costa Rica to transform the state refinery Recope empowers the State to make alliances with private companies and "incursion into alternative chemical energy", but maintains the monopoly of fossil fuels.
On April 8, 2019, the Alvarado administration presented an initiative before the Legislative Assembly that seeks to transform the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (Recope) into the Costa Rican Company of Alternative Fuels and Energies (Ecoena).
In Costa Rica, businessmen expect job creation to stagnate this year, as only a thousand new jobs are expected to be created, resulting in a year-on-year increase of just 0.7%.
The forecasts of the Chamber of Industries of Costa Rica (ICRC) for this one are the result of the study that the sector carries out every year, which concludes that in the most positive scenario, the performance of production, employment and investment, would be similar to that of 2018.
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