After nine days of strikes by public officials in Costa Rica, tour operators, hotels and restaurants in different parts of the country are reporting that reservations are being cancelled and sales are plummeting.
The strike being promoted by the country's public unions started on Monday, September 6, and has already caused millions of dollars worth of losses due to multiple road blocks and acts of sabotage in the fuel distribution chain, among other coercive measures.
Following a week of strikes by public unions in Costa Rica, the private sector is demanding that authorities act faster and prevent public roads from being blockaded.
In the face of the strike led by public unions in the country, which has now been ongoing for more than seven days, the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of the Private Business Sector (UCCAEP) is demanding that the government act quickly and avoid further blockades on public roads.
Exporters resent the effects of five continuous days of demonstrations, blockades and widespread insecurity on the roads of Costa Rica.
Before the strike, which was started a few days ago by unions representing the country's public institutions, the Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (Cadexco) denounced the fact that companies in the sector are facing multiple difficulties in exporting their products.Puerto Moín, the main outlet for exports, is onlyoperating six hours a day, leaving close to 12,000 tons per day unable to be shipped, which is estimated to be equivalent to almost $10 million in daily sales abroad.
In the first semester of this year, the Panamanian government paid $30 million more in interest payments on the public debt than the amount paid in the same period last year.
According to official figures between the first six months of 2018 and the same period in 2017, the costs of the debt increased by 6%, rising from $537 million to $567 million.
Panama's builders worry about the increase in prices of materials and higher minimun wages.
According to figures from the builders' union, from January 2015 to June 2017 the average price per square meter of homes built in Panama City increased from $1,700 to $2,050, which represents an increase of 21%.Added to this situation are theincreases in the minimum wageand in the prices of construction materials.
Salvadoran textile companies state that the costs of labor, security and delivery times have made the sector's operations more expensive.
The recentincrease in the minimum wageis one of the factors that has had a direct impact on the cost structure of Salvadoran textile companies. Added to this are logistical difficulties in customs offices, which have caused companies from neighboring countries to obtain contracts that were originally planned for El Salvador.
In Costa Rica, twelve farms are now using experimental technology to reduce the cost of weed control from approximately $250 per hectare to $50.
Through the use of small tractors or modified motorcycles which have arms attached to them to perform fumigation, atomization, weed control and fertilization tasks at an early stage, Costa Rica is managing to reduce labor costs in coffee plantations.For example, "... it is estimated that the time it takes to atomize one hectare, for example, can be reduced from the current day and a half to barely an hour."
It is estimated that in 2025 an average 1 MW ground mounted solar energy system will have an average cost of 73 cents per watt, 36% less than the current cost.
Advances in technology and growing experience in the manufacture of solar energy systems are contributing to the gradual reduction of their cost, giving them an advantage over other sources of power generation, such as fossil fuel.
Clearing a container through customs can take up to 14 days and the extra costs for surcharges which apply after a third day can exceed $600.
An article on Laprensa.hn reports that "...Of those 14 days, only about 11 will be spent waiting, first for the cargo to be inspected and after for a diagnosis to be made, or because of the delay added due to days when customs officers from the now liquidated Executive Directorate of Revenue ( DEI) have taken off in order to migrate to the Revenue Management System (SAR). "
In 2014 the economic cost of violence in El Salvador exceeded $4 billion, while the opportunity cost of production and unmade investment was 4.8% of GDP.
From a press release issued by the Research Network at the Central Bank (REDIBACEN):
Today the Research Network at the Central Bank (REDIBACEN) presented the results of the research report entitled "Estimating the Economic Cost of Violence in El Salvador", carried out by the researcher economists Margarita Penate, Kenny de Escobar, Arnulfo Quintanilla and Cesar Alvarado.
The president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica has evaluated in $80 million the cost of an electronic voting system which would link all polling stations together.
Statements by Luis Antonio Sobrado, Chief of Justice of Costa Rican Elections, allow a comparison of market prices with those agreed to by the institution during the evaluation of a system of electronic voting.
In Costa Rica operators in the sector indicate that there are no incentives for renewable energy generation due to excessive interconnection and access fees.
The tariff structure and rates established by the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (Aresep) caused widespread discontent for entrepreneurs with interests in solar power generation.
The current tariff was established in 2005 but when it comes time to paying at the counter this rate increases because of additional charges, it is for that reason that the Superintendency of Competition (SC) through means of a study is proposing a revision and update of the existing rates, adding in these elements.
Employers say the 18% decline in exports in February 2015 compared to the same month in 2014 is not due to temporary factors, but to a continued loss of competitiveness.
Excessive bureaucracy and the high cost of energy and other factors related to production are part of the problems affecting the private sector and are causing a reduction of exports, according to the president of the National Chamber of Agriculture and Agribusiness, Juan Rafael Lizano.
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