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ICR-CRS Archive/FILE (Pictured: Workers at a multinational medical device manufacturing company’s facility in Heredia, Costa Rica)
By Wendy Anders
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its most recent edition of an annual series on Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America (June 2016) reported that FDI flows to Central America were up by 6 percent in 2015 for a total of US$11.808 billion.
Panama is still the most important destination with 43 percent of the total of FDI in the subregion, followed by Costa Rica with 26 percent, and Honduras and Guatemala each with 10 percent, reported the commission.
ECLAC, headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations and aims to contribute to the economic development of Latin America by reinforcing economic ties among countries and with other nations of the world.
In 2015, FDI inflows to Costa Rica rose by 1 percent to US$3.094 billion, reported the commission. The commission also noted that Costa Rica has seen benefits from a real estate development boom, focused principally on the tourism industry and retirement communities, in which a few foreign investors have been key players.
For example, the commission reported that the United States chain AMResorts, a subsidiary of Apple Leisure Group, invested US$130 million in the Las Mareas resort early last year, and also took over management of the Papagayo Resort & Spa (previously known as the Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa).
In recent years, continued the ECLAC report, an aggressive strategy for attracting investments has allowed Costa Rica to influence the decisions of several firms seeking an international location. For example, last year Germany’s Bosch announced a US$30 million investment to establish a business services center in Costa Rica.
Like other Central American countries, Costa Rica has also received investment in renewable energies. SunEdison of the United States invested US$350 million to acquire 100 percent of Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy (GME) from a consortium led by the British firm Actis, with renewable energy assets throughout Central America, according to ECLAC’s June report.
And a final major foreign direct investment actor was the United States chain Wal-Mart which announced in 2015 a US$100 million investment to upgrade and expand its operations in Costa Rica, stated ECLAC.
