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20 years

Costa Rica exports fall 17% in first quarter

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April 28th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) Costa Rica’s exports fell by nearly half-a-billion dollars, or 17%, during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2014, according to the latest data by Costa Rica’s foreign trade promotion agency, PROCOMER, released on Monday.

 

Total exports were tallied at $2,390,000,000 for the first three months of 2015, compared to $2,867,000,000 for the same period a year ago, a decrease of $477 million.

 

Foreign Trade Minister, Alexander Mora, said the figures didn’t come as a surprise, in part due to Intel’s decision to cease manufacturing operations in the country in April of last year.

 

Other negative pressures include a decline of 7% in agrictultural exports, led by fewer exports of pineapple (-14%) and bananas (-23%).

 

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  • prdatki

    Is this a surprise, as long as CR has high cost to CAJA, over priced, fuel , electricity and a very corrupt and over paid Government.The country will lose business and investment.

    • SDPUS

      Corruption is the key element to control. President Solis has not lived up to his promises. He has not prosectuted and convicted anyone from his government.

      Jorge Chavarria will continue to raid “poor people” and jail them, and he will claim victory for creating a safer society…and we all know what a farce that is.

      As the economy continues to fall, crime will inevitably rise and the government class will continue to steal. Welcome to Costa Corrupcion, where all politicians are granted a lifetime of immunity! Judging by the conviction rate, you would think this government was only filled with Saints.

      Where is the accountability for government and white collar criminals President Solis? You can bet that is a recipe for more foreign investment to leave.

      What about the high profile cases of Paul Watson, Ann Bender, Barry Lawson etc?

      Treat honest foreigners like this, and you can bet your ass foreign investment will continue to exit this cess-pool of institutional corruption. There isn’t an institution in this country that is not riddled with internal corruption. Hospital Mexico, Calderon Guardia– the list is endless.

      It all starts and ends with you President Solis. You are the leader of this country! Is this the image you really want portrayed to the world? You need a new Fiscal General who will rise to meet these immense challenges!!!

  • Ken Morris

    Maybe and maybe not. We know that most exports are intra-firm exports, and also know that the multinationals cook the books on their intra-firm exports. A recent report found that Costa Rica is among the top countries in the world for bogus export numbers. So we’re suppose to believe the numbers from any given quarterly report?

    True, if exports of bananas and pineapples are down–pretty standard things–it would appear that exports overall are down, but who is worried about a decline in banana and pineapple exports? I’m not. Rule #1 in global commerce is that when you’re exporting unfinished goods like agricultural products, you are importing finished goods like cell phones–and lose. We may not want to see banana or pineapple exports down in the short run, but if the business class is going to fret about this, it is tantamount to their saying that they want to remain a Banana (or Pineapple) Republic.

    It’s also clear that the Banana Republic business class has been mounting an all-out assault on the Solís administration, and I can’t imagine that PROCOMER isn’t part of this assault. Their agenda is transparent: It is to make Solís look bad so that they can once again install their own lackeys in the government.

    Just beware: Corruption in Costa Rica isn’t limited to the government. The book-cooking by the multinationals makes political corruption look like amateur stuff. And the Banana Republic business class wants us to fault the government, since that deflects attention away from its own misdeeds.

    • SDPUS

      I agree 100% Ken, the multi-nationals cook the books, after buying their way in. I don’t want to sound one -sided by solely attacking government. But in my eyes these are elected public officials. Their loyalty should be to the constituents, not corporations. We all know corporations are seedy and often will do anything for the almighty dollar. Their only loyalty is to their shareholders. They can pick up and leave whenever they want. But these politicians, it is their duty to fairly control and regulate these enterprises. There needs to be severe penalties for bribery and corruption of public officials. Throw a few CEO’s and politicians in the clank and you can bet others will quickly fall in line.This is about government leadership, and Solis needs to oust many, especially those who repeatedly do not do their job. Fiscal General Jorge Chavarria is one of those people who need to go. He didn’t solve La Penca at the beginning of his career and he certainly hasn’t solved any of the recent cases that his institution is directly responsible for. He has made a career out of looking the other way, and ensuring continued immunity for his friends and colleagues in government. This is extremely poor leadership and it perfectly explains what has happened since the 1980′s– and PLN Leadership. They are the GOP of Costa Rica. Solis is no different than Obama and the situation he inherited. He has the business class against him….

      • costarick

        The problem as I see it, is that there are no true native Costa Rican patriots. The pecking order of benefiting adhered to by Costa Ricans is: Family, Friends, and then Country, in that order. This is the societal hierarchy that Costa Ricans subscribe to, politician and/or citizen alike. In the important decision making for the Country, no Costa Rican puts the Country first, as a true patriot would. There is no sacrifice, except in the case of supporting the National Soccer Team at the World Cup Finals.

        • Ken Morris

          We disagree here, both on the facts and on the moral emphasis.

          Everywhere in the world the order of people’s priorities is family, friends, and country. This was discovered long ago by the Nazis and adopted by the US military. Soldiers simply do not fight for their country. Rather, they fight for their buddies alongside them, and when they think of “country” they think of their sweethearts back home. Since WW II, military strategy has always been to kindle the ties among the small groups of soldiers and to forget about the nation. Since soldiers in the battlefield are so motivated, I see no reason to believe that others aren’t, and there are lots of reasons to believe that others are also motivated by family first, then friends, and last country.

          As a moral position, I also dislike putting country first. It reeks of nationalism, which to my mind is the among the greatest evils in the world today. Authur Schlesinger wrote that famous Kennedy line about “ask not,” and he was a good speechwriter while Kennedy was pretty good at delivery, but we have to remember that Kennedy was running for president, a national office, and that’s what politicians are suppose to emphasize.

          We might though ask ourselves what effect this US nationalism had, insofar it was believed. Yeah, domestically it helped. Tax rates were higher then than they have ever been since and the society was more equal than it has been since. Crucial equality legislation was soon pushed through to help old people and on behalf of civil rights. There were domestic achievements. But look at foreign policy. Kennedy himself made a mess of Cuba and embarked upon the ill-fated Vietnam War. In fact, while these guys were fairly living off the glory of having taken the right action in WW II, and possibly right in the Korean War, even Ike blew it in Guatemala before Kennedy did in Cuba and Vietnam. And can we count the number of US wars since then? It helps that the Iraq wars are numbered.

          I’m not keen on family being first, and when Kennedy was elected the top inheritance tax was 90%, while it’s now much lower and decried as the “death tax.” Putting family first can be quite harmful to the larger society. But I personally don’t want nationalism first, since that’s even worse.

          And to my mind, Costa Rica is too nationalistic already. It was a rude awakening for me to see the reaction of Costa Rica to Nicaragua’s so-called invasion. My feeling was thank God Costa Rica doesn’t have a military, since if it had one it would have started the same kind of war that the US always starts when it’s nationalism is insulted.

          I also don’t like the way the beer monopoly gets away with charging inflated prices by nationalistic advertising, or the xenophobia in the country. To my mind, Costa Rica needs to tone down its nationalism.

          OK, while I’m on this roll, IMO what the country really lacks is a civil society, the stuff that comes between family and friends on one hand and the state on the other. Although it could be strengthened there too, both the US and Canada have a much stronger civil society ethic. In Costa Rica there is a gap of indifference between the people a person is related to and friends, on one hand, and the government. Indeed, people put too much emphasis on the government handling this in between area, when governments really can’t do that. Alas, the civil society deficit makes government corruption easier, since there is no check on it.

      • Ken Morris

        I don’t know enough to comment on specific appointments, but I’m inclined to agree that Solís has been weak in this area. My sense is that he was an outsider who never expected to win, and when by fluke he won, he didn’t know enough people to make good appointments. There may be exceptions, but for the most part I think his appointments have suffered more from incompetence than corruption. Even offering ambassadorships is common in most governments, including Costa Rica’s, just more experienced players know better than to get caught. BTW, I doubt that the multinationals are dumb enough to bribe. I think they strike their deals above board, as it were, with a fawning public eager to have them.

        • SDPUS

          I like Solis and I think he is a man of integrity. I think his appointments fit his mold. When I talk corrupt politicians, I am referring to the PLN Party that has every level of government fixed for decades. It is their ilk that needs to be dealt with, and who the Head Prosecutor protects. Most of these scams and corrupt acts that you see in the news, like at Calderon Guardia and Hospital Mexico are long running. President Solis is taking a soft approach and not jailing the people responsible, which include both public and private sector people. How Oscar Arias was not part of the real investigation into what Dobles went down for? How Laura Chinchilla can be riding on a plane associated with a coke dealer? La Trocha? Multinationals are bribing for sure. Why do you think Figueres was exciled to Switzerland for a decade. Typically the MultiNationals have enough money to stay above any problems with the law. This is true in both first and third world countries. In the USA we have another name for corporate bribery….it’s called lobbying.

          • SDPUS
          • Ken Morris

            Interesting line of thought that raises an important question, namely: How exactly is corruption sustained in Costa Rica?

            One theory I heard (if memory serves it came from Otton Solis–though memory may not serve so I shouldn’t attribute it to him) is that a fair number of high-level staffers and appointees have information that if released would send selected politicians to prison, but instead of releasing the information they use it to blackmail the politicians into continuing to hire and appoint them. It therefore becomes a club of the corrupt in which no one rats on anyone else as long as each one gets a cut of the take. This may be what’s going on with the Head Prosecutor, although I’m more suspicious of certain cabinet members who keep being appointed as ministers of this or that.

            However, it’s hard for me to suspect Solís of being blackmailed like this, since he’s an outsider. But who knows, it may all happen more indirectly. Or, Solís may be out of the loop still. I would be surprised though if Solís failed to prosecute if he had hard evidence.

            OK, I’ll concede that multinationals do sometimes bribe, but I think that’s rare. More common are things like the Clinton speaking fees in the article you post. Usually there are legal ways to buy influence.

          • SDPUS

            I think your theory is correct. It kind of reminds me of Obama not jailing any of the banksters or wall street criminals. This is one dirty aspect of politics that has perpetuated us to the point where we now are. The weeds need to be pulled one at a time. A real Prosecutor would charge them all and offer them deals to turn on each other until the biggest fish gets caught.

            Hypothetically speaking, that is how the drug war works. But unfortunately, ONLY low level dealers go to prison.

            Lock up a few big fish, and behaviors will change very quickly. Give them impunity and it is the same ole’ song and dance which will corrupt. There is a reason over 500 prosecutors wrote in support of keeping Jorge Chavarria on. It certainly is not because he is doing a good job. It covers for the corruption that has been institutionalized all throughout the nation. This change is much easier than most think. It starts with getting Jorge Chavarria out!

          • SDPUS

            And remember Solis is not an outsider. He originated from the PLN and moved to the PAC. That in itself should tell you something…

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