Although the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have been relaxed, consumers continue to show signs of mistrust in the current situation, behavior that could put pressure downward on spending on products and services considered to be discretionary.
In 2020, when the effects of the pandemic that caused the spread of covid-19 began to become evident, it was anticipated that consumer habits would change, since in a complicated economic scenario full of uncertainty, people would be more careful when spending.
Although in Central America the period of mandatory confinement has been exceeded, it is still a priority for consumers in the region to spend their free time in their homes and to devote themselves to household cleaning and home cooking.
It has been six months since the first cases of covid-19 were detected in the region. When the outbreaks began, governments chose to subject consumers to strict household quarantines, a measure that affected not only the economy but also people's behavior in the medium term.
The abrupt change in consumer habits forced companies to digitalize their operations and sales, but the challenges do not stop there, as companies will have to implement effective logistics systems to reach their customers.
In the first nine months of 2019, 4,715 companies were closed, 13% more than the total number of companies closed during the whole of 2018, which could be because of the entry into force of the Personal Income Tax Law.
Since 2017, the year in which the Corporate Income Tax Law came into force, the number of corporations that closed their operations in the country began to increase.
EY Law and Logit Engenharia are two of the seven companies that submitted bids in Guatemala to carry out the advanced engineering study for the North-South Axis passenger Interconnection and Urban Rail Transport project in the country's capital.
On October 1, financial bids were opened in the tender process to award the advanced engineering study for the Metroriel project.
The Guatemalan government endorsed the modernization of La Aurora International Airport, which costs about $117 million, through a public-private partnership.
After the consulting firm Deloitte Tetra Tech was hired to prepare feasibility studies, with the aim of establishing contract models that could be applied to modernize the Guatemalan air terminal, it was recommended that a public-private partnership (PPP) is the most efficient way.
In terms of quality, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador are the countries in the region with the best road infrastructure, while Costa Rica and Guatemala continue to lag behind.
The Global Competitiveness Index, elaborated by Deloitte, measures the characteristics of 140 economies of the world in different areas, among which the analysis of the connectivity and quality of the road infrastructure of the countries stands out.
The mergers and acquisitions being reported in Central America are largely because not all companies in the region are willing to make the heavy investments that the transition to 5G technology will require.
The most recent register of the sale of assets of one of the Central American competitors is the case of Telefónica, which on January 24 reported that for $648 million it sold to América Móvil all the shares of Telefónica Guatemala and 99.3% of Telefónica El Salvador.
Now customers who receive their digital receipt in Costa Rica will have eight business days, from the first day of the month following the transaction, to inform the Treasury of the rejection or acceptance of the invoice.
Prior to this modification, which was published by the General Directorate of Taxation on February 20 in the official newspaper La Gaceta, the client had eight working days from the time of receiving the electronic receipt to inform the Tax Office of the rejection or acceptance.
In El Salvador, consultancy began to structure the project to install a lighting and video surveillance system on 140 kilometers of roads in four regions.
From the Fomilenio II statement:
FOMILENIO II and Deloitte Consulting S.L.U. signed the order to start the consultancy to structure the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) lighting and video surveillance project.
With the new bill the aim is to redeploy the payment of corporation tax, which was declared unconstitutional and suspended in January.
The new initiative seeks to resurrect the creation of the tax, fees and penalties, redefining the criteria for their application. However, there are Members who do not support this measure, who assert that is mostly affects small and medium enterprises.
With entry into force once again of the rule on transfer pricing, companies must take into account all the requirements in order to avoid penalties and adjustments to income.
The regulations in force since January 1 require taxpayers to adequately demonstrate and justify "... the amounts of payments and / or profit margins in their transactions with related parties" in order to ensure fair competition and collection of taxes.
The decree submitted for public consultation by the General Directorate of Taxation of Costa Rica requires commercial companies to provide information about its members and the composition of its capital.
There is currently a period of 10 working days for companies that do not agree with the draft decree to declare so and make comments. This measure aims to implement the standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The National Power and Light company is preparing for midyear to issue preference shares for an amount estimated at between $50 and $100 million.
In order to address the financial crisis, improve the equity structure and pay in 2017 $28 million in bond debts, the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL) will be issuing preferred shares for an estimated $50 to $100 million.
An announcement has been made that transition to compliance by financial institutions with the conditions established by law will be carried over to the years 2014 and 2015.
The Treasury Department of the United States, through the inland revenue service (IRS) has announced that it will take into account the "good faith" of financial institutions outside the United States who will have to make adaptations in order to comply with the law and will not issue penalties for delays between 2014 and 2015.
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