QCOSTARICA – The prediction that Costa Rica would be well positioned as an investment center as the pandemic slows down is fulfilled, according to the analysis of the Costa Rican Coalition of Development Initiatives (CINDE), which hopes that in 2021, the country will attract investments again similar to pre-pandemic levels, which were around US$2 billion dollars.
The investment promotion agency knew of projects frozen or postponed by the Covid-19 virus in 2020, which are beginning to reactivate little by little.
In the first three months of 2021, nine multinationals have announced openings or expansions in the country, with a foreign direct investment (FDI) that exceeds US$4.2 million.
However, that amount would be much higher, considering that several companies do not disclose investment data, such as Biomerics, Fujitsu, Bayer, and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The most recent of these is the San Francisco-based software company Autodesk, which announced last week the official opening of a new office for Latin America, based in San José, Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican office will be where internal sales operations and other teams will come together to drive the growth of the company in Latin America. This company currently has 50 employees and is hiring in nine highly specialized positions.
Last week, Viatris, the sixth largest company in the world in the health sector, announced an initial investment of US$1.4 million in Costa Rica.
More jobs are looming with the opening of Amazon Web Services (AWS) in San José, a subsidiary of Amazon, with plans to hire highly qualified professionals for sales, public sector, marketing, and technical engineering roles that will be based in the country.
For now, the most important investment in terms of initial capital injection is that of the global technology and data analysis company Helm360, which formally started in the country in 2020 and plans to inaugurate its new support center in San Isidro de El General, in Pérez Zeledón, at the end of the year, with an initial investment of US$2 million.
Helm360 will be creating 15 new jobs outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GMA).
Biomerics, a medical device contract manufacturer and innovative polymer solutions provider, announced that it will double its manufacturing plant in Cartago, Costa Rica, generating 175 new jobs in three years.
Fujitsu announced 60 new jobs; Instantia will be generating 30 new jobs at a new plant in the Caribbean, in Roxana de Pococí, where it will produce dehydrated pineapple for export to Mexico; and the arrival of Synter Resource Group, will be looking to fill 35 positions in its first operations in Latin America in Costa Rica, located in Escazu.
In addition, Bayer announced the purchase of land in El Coyol de Alajuela Free Zone to expand its local operations in the long term.
