This international investment survey ranking covers the perception of 7,000 entrepreneurs and considers eight of the 65 characteristics in total. The issues that are taken into consideration are: combating corruption, dynamism, economic stability, entrepreneurship, fiscal environment, qualified human talent, innovation, and technological experience.
This study is updated once a year by U.S. News & World Report, with the support of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the BAV Group and contains the specific analysis for investment issues and is drawn from the responses of a survey of 20,300 individuals from 36 countries in all the continents.
This study also emphasizes factors such as human resources, the environment, its international relations, its framework, and education, creating four distinct factors identified, which make each country unique. It is important to note that this publication points to Costa Rica as the most politically and economically stable country in Central America.
An optimal business destination.
The Costa Rican Foreign Trade Minister Dyalá Jiménez Figueres commented: “It is remarkable that the eight characteristics in the analysis take into consideration the areas in which we work hard to improve our public policy standards precisely under the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); areas in which we will continue working as members of the organization”.
In the same way, Jiménez said: “The result of this study could influence the decisions of companies that do not yet know our country as a business destination to install their investments in our country”. It should be noted that foreign investments are of great help to Costa Rica because it contributes to the growth as a nation, promoting new jobs for the country’s citizens, such as in infrastructure.
In the same order of ideas Jorge Sequeira, General Director of CINDE, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency, said: “We celebrate this recognition that confirms that Costa remains a strategically to attract new investments where, in 2019, we obtained 44 projects of investment and a record 56 reinvestment projects”.
In 2019, Costa Rica perceived a dynamic growth in investment; here we mention some of the International Companies that have established themselves in the country:
WeWork: which made Costa Rica its first headquarters in Central America; where human talent was leveraged.
Amazon: it created 2,000 additional jobs to add 10,000 employees in different processes.
IBM Cybersecurity Center: which expanded and tripled its operating capacity with an investment of US $ 21 million?
Heraeus Medical Components: this German medical equipment company invested $ 15 million to expand its production plant in the country.
In the pharmaceutical sector, the British company GlaxoSmithKline and the German company Bayer announced a broad expansion of their activities here.
For 2019 the services sector exports reached US $ 9,092 million, which represents 45% of the total exported by Costa Rica this past year, almost double the average of the OECD countries (27%).
Costa Rica is the most open country in digital international trade, according to the OECD Digital Services Trade Restrictions Index. In 2019, the presence of more than 300 multinational companies attracted by CINDE to the country generated a record number of 18,718 gross jobs.
Strengthening bilingualism in the Costa Rican workforce and increasing the number of professionals in the highest demand careers, also improving the infrastructure are tasks that the country should focus on to strengthen the attraction of investments and, therefore, jobs.
Jorge Sequeira, director of CINDE commented: “The greatest challenge will be to continue training human talent in today’s and future skills for greater employability.” Undoubtedly, the results of these studies reinforce the policies of economic transformation carried out by the country and in turn, help the Tica nation to become even more visible as an ideal destination for foreign investment.
