Ease of Doing Business in Costa Rica

[Jungfraujoch]

Worldbank Ease of Doing Business in Costa Rica 2011
Rank 125 😳
http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/costa-rica/ El Salvador Rank 83 😀

[Andrew]

And You Thought The Government Bureaucracy in Costa Rica Was Bad?

“In the 1950’s only about 1 in 20 Americans needed the governments’ blessing to do their job, today that number is 1 in 3…”

I would suggest that the number in Costa Rica is probably about the same as it was in the US in the 1950’s ….

[Jim S.]

Statistics like these can be a valuable source of information but can also paint an entirely misleading picture if not interpreted within an overall context.

For example, you comment on the comparative ranking of El Salvador being higher than that of Costa Rica. Out of context and based on the limited criteria used for the rankings, it would appear that El Salvador might be a better place to live and start a business.

Such a conclusion is so wrong that it would be almost laughable if it wasn’t so misleading. El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. Although the economy growing and the country certainly has the potential for a brighter future, it’s still politically, socially and economically one of the most unstable and dangerous countries in the region. Gang violence, kidknapping, extortion, drug-related crimes and political corruption are still major problems and the murder rate is among the highest in the world. Perhaps for some it’s worth the risk, but not for me or, I suspect, for most other ex-pats or foreigner investors.

From personal experience, I can tell you that opening a small business such as mine in Cost Rica is pretty simple and straight forward. I can’t comment on some of the factors ranked by the World Bank such as obtaining credit, protecting investors and trading across borders because I didn’t need any of these. However, construction and business permitting and licensing, tax registration and other small business start up activities were not at all difficult, expensive or time-consuming.

[smekuly]

Scott

HOGWASH!!!

sorry 😀

I have had many small business in the U.S. and I have have business here. costa rica is terrible regarding any support for small business. My only experience is san jose so it may be easier in the other areas. but anything brick and morter terrible terrible terrible.

scott now I know you sit in your nice apartment in your PJ’s writing as if you are the expert but sir please.

No disrespect.

you are actually doing it the smart way having this lead generating site and selling real estate without selling.. since you refer people and receive a commission in a country where anyone can sell real estae.

but opening a brick and morter business here

Not recommended!!

saludos to all and to the people also living here. I salute your moxy. since most people back home are dreamers and not doers

steve

[Jim S.]

Steve,

I’m really curious about the sort of problems you’ve had in Costa Rica with regard to “suport” for small businesses. Other than licensing, permitting and tax registration, I haven’t really needed any sort of support, but my experiences with the start-up process have been uniformly excellent and efficient.

It helps that I’m in the municipality of Tres Rios rather than San Jose. I couldn’t ask for a nicer, more helpful group of people than the municipal employees I’ve delt with. Since my business is a restaurant, I’ve also had extensive dealing with the Ministry of Health in San Pedro and again have had great experiences.

My Costa Rican stepdaughter also has a successful well-established small business here – a veterinary clinic, pet supply, and pet grooming salon which she started about three years ago and has never had the slightest degree of difficulty or problems with any governmental agency or process.

So, I’m sure others may have had problems doing business here but my experiences have been entirely positive.

[smekuly]

Jim

I have had in the past 10 years a internet cafe, boutique hotel, restaurant, bar.

now again my experiences have been only in san jose so I am not qualified nor do i find supporting articles to say that I have experience other than san jose.

getting permits seem to always depend of some niche tramite expert since going about it the normal way is a long delayed process. the whole system is one giant pain in the arse here and it has been my experience that the only way to actually get anything done here is to adapt that famous costa rica mindset

don’t ask for permission just do it and ask for forgiveness later

something like that 😀

I found in my experience that the tico mentality here is one of entitlement and it is perpetuated by goverment regulations every try to fire a tico here you wind up paying them this severance package that could add up depneding how long they work for you.. it does NOT matter if they do a lousy job or even steal.. if you fire them you have to pay them a severance.. which is always higher since they run to the minister of work here and bring back this document that you owe 2 times what they are actually entitled to.

my experience with employee’s here has been not good. I even made the mistake of actually arguing a case in front of a judge of an employee’s that was actually caught stealing. the judge favored him and i had to pay plus his attorney fee’s.

I pay taxes, Caja almost $4000 per month, aguinaldos, permits, I even had this guy who used to come in and collect money because music was being played.

lets not talk about the muni here.. always had some sort of visit from some inspector from some goverment agency.. and the problem is that information is never clear and one hand doe not know what the other one is doing.. and law here is so inconsistently applied. its a disgrace.

there was an occasion where a muni inspector was causing me grief because according to him my handicap ramps were not the correct angle he closed down my business for that and i actually had to pay him a bribe to reopen the next day while I fixed the problem. meanwhile 95% of all businesses in san jose do NOT even comply wit handicap laws..

always looking for that bribe handout.. disgusting really.

don’t get me wrong.. corruption is everywhere especially back in the states.. but it seems like it is at higher levels while here is more street level if that makes any sense.

finally just got tired of bending over and I sold off to other pura vida customers

I made that reference to scott because when ever someone mentions something negative with costa rica he always finds some material to basically say.. “well its not as bad as the terrible USA”

people just so we are clear… I love living here.. because now I have a business like scott and I sit home typing this in my underwear and I just make money from home. no one knows what I do

I even sell a few properties here and there.. heck why not.. you don’t need a license here to sell real estate.

now I have

no employee’s
no muni
no inspectors
no permits
no caja
no aguinaldo

well except for my domestica

para sirvile 😆

steve

[markus]

Good insights Steve. Thank you,

[Author]

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