Costa Rica Courting the High Tech Sector and Direct Foreign Investment

Alexander Mora, Foreign Trade Minister, recently announced that Accenture, a U.S.-based firm, will be adding 300 new jobs to the Costa Rican economy over the course of the next 18 months. The announcement came during a visit to the United States by President Luis Guillermo Solis in a move to attract foreign investment to Costa Rica. Costa Rica was hit hard earlier this year when Bank of America and microchip manufacturer Intel announced that collectively they would be laying off approximately 3,000 workers. Intel announced that it would be closing its manufacturing facilities in Costa Rica and subsequently slashing 1,500 jobs. Bank of America also announced that it would be closing its service center and cutting another 1,500 jobs. According to both companies, restructuring would be finalized by the end of the year. The news of the layoffs came at a tumultuous time as then President-elect Solis, who had just won the runoff election, made preparations to take office. At the time, Solis' campaign issued a statement stating they had been assured by Intel that the decision to close their facility in Costa Rica was not related to Solis' election. During his campaign, Solis had made a point of noting that he had no plans to increase taxes on companies operating in free trade zones. Since the announcements by Intel and Bank of America, Costa Rica has begun to focus heavily on biomedical as a way of combatting the reduction in workforce left by the layoffs from Bank of America and Intel. While planning to take office, Solis reinforced the commitment of his incoming government to attracting and maintaining foreign direct investment in Costa Rica. Shortly thereafter, Solis announced his plans to travel to the United States to court investors. After taking office, Solis' first trip as acting president outside of Costa Rica was a trip to the United States in early June. He has since travelled to the U.S. once again to meet with investors in a continued effort to attract high-tech firms and direct foreign investment to Costa Rica.