Due to the political and social crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing, between April and August of this year, around 116,000 employees have stopped contributing to Social Security.
Official figures from the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute (INSS) detail that between April, the month in which the political and social crisis occurred, and August, 115,978 employees have stopped paying their social security contributions.
The complex economic and political situation that has affected Nicaragua since April continues to affect Central America, where exporters report losses of $45 million.
In the past months, cargo transport faced difficulties in moving goods along Nicaragua's highways due to demonstrators' blockades and insecurity, seriously affecting Central American companies.
Imports of footwear and clothing fell 8% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2017, and production in the country contracted by around 30%.
According to representatives of the guilds of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Leather Shoes (CNCC), and the Nicaraguan Chamber of Leather and Footwear (Camcunic), in the first six months the local production of clothing and footwear has decreased by about 30%.
New World Bank projections estimate that because of Nicaragua's political crisis, the country's GDP will fall 4% this year and 1% in 2019.
According to the expectations of the international organization, Nicaragua will be the only economy that will decrease in Central America, because of the political and social crisis in which the country is involved since last April, it is expected that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will decrease 3.8% in 2018 compared to 2017.
In Nicaragua, electricity consumption in the industrial sector fell 4% between March and August of this year, mainly due to the political and social crisis the country is currently experiencing.
Sergio Maltez, president of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Industry (Cadin), explained to Laprensa.com.ni about the reduction in electricityconsumption that "... This reduction in the sector could be the result of less activities in construction and mining. In both the construction industry and non-metallic mining, several projects have been stopped. In addition, when the crisis began, some companies temporarily closed and evidently did not consume the same percentage of energy'."
Construction material imports have reported significant decreases in Nicaragua since April, mainly between May and July.
According to data from the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), purchases abroad of construction materials fell 13% between January and July this year with respect to the same period in 2017, declining from $229 million to $198 million.
Businessmen in Nicaragua expect to reduce by at least 50% the investments they had previously planned for 2018, waiting for the problems affecting the country to be solved.
The research by the Consejo Superior de la Empresa Privada (Cosep) and the Fundación Nicaragüense para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (Funides), takes place in the context of more than 160 days of political and social crisis, which has severely affected the performance of the country's economy.
The union has reported that five months after the outbreak of the social and political crisis in Nicaragua, the country has lost about 68,000 of the 120,000 jobs generated by the sector.
The National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) presented a report highlighting the impact of the country's social and political crisis on the tourism sector.
Despite the complex situation, pig farmers in Nicaragua estimate that they will achieve their goal of producing and marketing 13,600 tons of pork this year.
According to representatives from the Nicaraguan Chamber of Producers (Caniporc), so far this year pork consumption went down by only 1% and the value of each live animal decreased by 5%, and the reason for this is the social and political crisis that has been affecting the country for more than five months.
As a result of barriers imposed by El Salvador on dairy products from Nicaragua and the crisis in the country, in the first half of the year sales reports showed a year-on-year fall of 9%.
According to statistics from the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) in the first six months of the year cheese exports totaled $54 million, 9% less than the $60 million recorded in the same period in 2017.
Five months after the socio-political crisis in Nicaragua, it is estimated that this year Gross Domestic Product will contract between by 2.1% and 4%, in real terms.
The Nicaraguan Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUNIDES) has updatedits estimates on the economic and social impact of the crisis in 2018, in which it poses a first scenario that assumes that people and companies will adapt to a "new reality". In this context, the losses in added value would amount to $946 million.
In Nicaragua, between the end of March and the beginning of September, deposits in the banking sector fell by 19%, affected by the socio-political crisis in the country.
Following the departure of US diplomatic staff from Nicaragua at the worst moment of the socio-political crisis, the US government has now announced that it has authorized the return of the embassy staff and their families to Managua.
The crisis in which Nicaragua has been immersed since last April has negatively affected the country in multiple ways, including the irregularity with which the US diplomatic corps works.This was evident when, in mid-May, the US Embassy reported that it would not be processing routine applications for nonimmigrant visas, and that due to unstable security conditions, it would reduce the hours of service provided to the public.See "Nicaragua: US suspends visa issuance"
Reducing prices to attract local tourists is the main strategy being used by Nicaraguan tourism entrepreneurs in areas such as Tola, San Juan del Sur and Ometepe Island.
In Nicaragua, the sharp drop in the flow of tourists as a result of the crisis that has been affecting the country since April has forced entrepreneurs, particularly small and medium-sized ones, to vary their strategies in order to try to generate income and sustain operations.
The business sector in Nicaragua has denounced the fact that customs control processes for goods are taking longer than normal, due to the fact that the authorities are carrying out "security" inspections.
Before the start of the socio-political crisis, the risk management system, whose function is to determine how much imported merchandise should be inspected, operated at random and inspected 20% of total purchases coming from abroad.However, in recent months authorities have chosen to inspect all of the merchandise, generating significant delays at customs enclosures.
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