| Doing Business
- Helping People in Costa Rica |
"Doing business in
Costa Rica". What can we say? It has never been
better. For all the years Soluciones InterMedia has
been in business in Costa Rica: for all that we've
learned, for all that we've experienced, and most
important for all that we've seen, we can tell you
that overall Business in Costa Rica has been great.
The best part - Getting Better! When people say "Costa
Rica is like the Switzerland of Central America",
we say believe it. Now, we can sit here and tell you
about all the details of how we see it great, safe,
profitable, etc., or you can judge for yourself. In
the end, we believe its a smart move and one that
ultimately Helps People. What better combination.
Soluciones InterMedia provides a snapshot of each
country’s aggregate ranking on the ease of doing
business and on each of the ten topics that comprise
the overall ranking. Data is provided by the World
Bank for the 10 topics covered. |
Costa Rica
Region: Latin America & Caribbean
Income category: Upper middle income
Population: 4,327,228
GNI per capita (US$): 4,590.00
|
|
| Ease
of... |
2006
rank |
2005
rank |
Change
in rank |
| Doing
Business |
105 |
99 |
-6 |
| Starting a Business |
99 |
88 |
-11 |
| Dealing with Licenses |
57 |
56 |
-1 |
| Employing Workers |
65 |
65 |
0 |
| Registering Property |
37 |
36 |
-1 |
| Getting Credit |
33 |
33 |
0 |
| Protecting Investors |
156 |
156 |
0 |
| Paying Taxes |
160 |
157 |
-3 |
| Trading Across Borders |
100 |
92 |
-8 |
| Enforcing Contracts |
114 |
139 |
+25 |
| Closing a Business |
118 |
108 |
-10 |
|
| |
|
Starting a Business
(2006)
The challenges
of launching a business are shown below. Included are:
the number of steps entrepreneurs can expect to go through
to launch, the time it takes on average, and the cost
and minimum capital required as a percentage of gross
national income (GNI) per capita. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Procedures (number) |
11 |
10.2 |
6.2 |
| Time (days) |
77 |
73.3 |
16.6 |
| Cost (% of income per capita) |
23.5 |
48.1 |
5.3 |
| Min. capital (% of income per
capita) |
0.0 |
18.1 |
36.1 |
|
| |
|
Dealing with Licenses
(2006)
Shown below
are the procedures, time, and costs to build a warehouse,
including obtaining necessary licenses and permits,
completing required notifications and inspections, and
obtaining utility connections. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Procedures (number) |
19 |
15.4 |
14.0 |
| Time (days) |
119 |
198.7 |
149.5 |
| Cost (% of income per capita) |
140.2 |
246.2 |
72.0 |
|
| |
|
Employing Workers
(2006)
The difficulties
that employers face in hiring and firing workers are
shown below. Each index assigns values between 0 and
100, with higher values representing more rigid regulations.
The Rigidity of Employment Index is an average of the
three indices. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Difficulty of Hiring Index |
56 |
34.0 |
27.0 |
| Rigidity of Hours Index |
40 |
34.8 |
45.2 |
| Difficulty of Firing Index |
0 |
26.5 |
27.4 |
| Rigidity of Employment Index |
32 |
31.7 |
33.3 |
| Nonwage labor cost (% of salary) |
26.0 |
12.5 |
21.4 |
| Firing costs (weeks of wages) |
35.3 |
59.0 |
31.3 |
|
| |
|
Registering Property
(2006)
The ease
with which businesses can secure rights to property
is shown below. Included are the number of steps, time,
and cost involved in registering property. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Procedures (number) |
6 |
6.6 |
4.7 |
| Time (days) |
21 |
77.4 |
31.8 |
| Cost (% of property value) |
3.5 |
6.0 |
4.3 |
|
| |
|
Getting Credit (2006)
Measures on credit information
sharing and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders
are shown below. The Legal Rights Index ranges from
0-10, with higher scores indicating that those laws
are better designed to expand access to credit. The
Credit Information Index measures the scope, access
and quality of credit information available through
public registries or private bureaus. It ranges from
0-6, with higher values indicating that more credit
information is available from a public registry or private
bureau. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Legal Rights Index |
4 |
4.5 |
6.3 |
| Credit Information Index |
6 |
3.4 |
5.0 |
| Public registry coverage (% adults) |
2.5 |
7.0 |
8.4 |
| Private bureau coverage (% adults) |
39.2 |
27.9 |
60.8 |
|
| |
|
Protecting Investors
(2006)
The indicators
below describe three dimensions of investor protection:
transparency of transactions (Extent of Disclosure Index),
liability for self-dealing (Extent of Director Liability
Index), shareholders’ ability to sue officers
and directors for misconduct (Ease of Shareholder Suits
Index) and Strength of Investor Protection Index. The
indexes vary between 0 and 10, with higher values indicating
greater disclosure, greater liability of directors,
greater powers of shareholders to challenge the transaction,
and better investor protection. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Disclosure Index |
2 |
4.3 |
6.3 |
| Director Liability Index |
5 |
5.1 |
5.0 |
| Shareholder Suits Index |
2 |
5.8 |
6.6 |
| Investor Protection Index |
3.0 |
5.1 |
6.0 |
|
| |
|
Paying Taxes (2006)
The data below shows the tax
that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a
given year, as well as measures of the administrative
burden in paying taxes. These measures include the number
of payments an entrepreneur must make; the number of
hours spent preparing, filing, and paying; and the percentage
of their profits they must pay in taxes. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Payments (number) |
41 |
41.3 |
15.3 |
| Time (hours) |
402 |
430.5 |
202.9 |
| Total tax rate (% profit) |
83.0 |
49.1 |
47.8 |
|
| |
|
Trading Across Borders
(2006)
The costs
and procedures involved in importing and exporting a
standardized shipment of goods are detailed under this
topic. Every official procedure involved is recorded
- starting from the final contractual agreement between
the two parties, and ending with the delivery of the
goods. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Documents for export (number) |
7 |
7.3 |
4.8 |
| Time for export (days) |
36 |
22.2 |
10.5 |
| Cost to export (US$ per container) |
660 |
1,068 |
811 |
| Documents for import (number) |
13 |
9.5 |
5.9 |
| Time for import (days) |
42 |
27.9 |
12.2 |
| Cost to import (US$ per container) |
660 |
1,226 |
883 |
|
| |
|
Enforcing Contracts
(2006)
The ease
or difficulty of enforcing commercial contracts in is
measured below. This is determined by following the
evolution of a payment dispute and tracking the time,
cost, and number of procedures involved from the moment
a plaintiff files the lawsuit until actual payment. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Procedures (number) |
34 |
39.3 |
22.2 |
| Time (days) |
615 |
641.9 |
351.2 |
| Cost (% of debt) |
18.7 |
23.4 |
11.2 |
|
| |
|
Closing a Business
(2006)
The time
and cost required to resolve bankruptcies is shown below.
The data identifies weaknesses in existing bankruptcy
law and the main procedural and administrative bottlenecks
in the bankruptcy process. The recovery rate, expressed
in terms of how many cents on the dollar claimants recover
from the insolvent firm, is also shown. |
| Indicator |
Costa
Rica |
Region |
OECD |
| Time (years) |
3.5 |
2.6 |
1.4 |
| Cost (% of estate) |
14.5 |
13.6 |
7.1 |
| Recovery rate (cents on the dollar) |
17.6 |
25.7 |
74.0 |
|
| |
Costa Rica!