Costa Rica
9. Corruption
Costa Rica has laws, regulations, and penalties to combat corruption. Though the resources available to enforce those laws are limited, Costa Rica’s institutional framework is strong, such that those cases that are prosecuted are generally perceived as legitimate. Anti-corruption laws extend to family members of officials, contemplate conflict-of-interest in both procurement and contract award, and penalizes bribery by local businessmen of both local and foreign government officials. Public officials convicted of receiving bribes are subject to prison sentences up to ten years, according to the Costa Rican Criminal Code (Articles 347-360). Entrepreneurs may not deduct the costs of bribes or any other criminal activity as business expenses. In recent decades, Costa Rica saw several publicized cases of firms prosecuted under the terms of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Costa Rica ratified the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption in 1997. This initiative of the OECD and the Organization of American States (OAS) obligates subscribing nations to implement criminal sanctions for corruption and implies a series of follow up actions: http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/cri.htm . Costa Rica also ratified the UN Anti-Corruption Convention in March 2007, has been a member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) since 2012, and as of July 2017 is a party to the OECD Convention on Combatting Bribery of Foreign Public Officials.
The Costa Rican government has encouraged civil society interest in good governance, open government and fiscal transparency, with a number of NGO’s operating unimpeded in this space. While U.S. firms do not identify corruption as a major obstacle to doing business in Costa Rica, some have made allegations of corruption in the administration of public tenders and in approvals or timely processing of permits. Developers of tourism facilities periodically cite municipal-level corruption as a problem when attempting to gain a concession to build and operate in the restricted maritime zone.
For further material on anti-bribery and corruption in Costa Rica, see the OECD study: https://www.oecd.org/countries/costarica/costa-rica-has-improved-its-foreign-bribery-legislation-but-must-strengthen-enforcement-and-close-legal-loopholes.htm
Also on the OECD website, information relating to Costa Rica’s membership in the OECD anti-bribery convention: https://www.oecd.org/countries/costarica/costarica-oecdanti-briberyconvention.htm
Resources to Report Corruption
Contact within government Anti-Corruption Agency:
Name: Armando López Baltodano
Title: Procurador Director de la Area de la Etica Publica, PGR
Organization: Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR)
Address: Avenida 2 y 6, Calle 13. San Jose, Costa Rica.
Telephone Number: 2243-8330, 2243-8321
Email Address: evelynhk@pgr.go.cr
Contact at “watchdog” organization:
Evelyn Villarreal F.
Asociación Costa Rica Íntegra
Tel:. (506) 8355 3762
Email 1: evelyn.villarreal@cr.transparency.org
Email 2: crintegra.vice@gmail.com
13. Foreign Direct Investment and Foreign Portfolio Investment Statistics
Host Country Statistical source* | USG or international statistical source | USG or International Source of Data: BEA; IMF; Eurostat; UNCTAD, Other | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic Data | Year | Amount | Year | Amount | |
Host Country Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ($M USD) | 2019 | $61,801 | 2019 | $61,801 | www.worldbank.org/en/country |
Foreign Direct Investment | Host Country Statistical source* | USG or international statistical source | USG or international Source of data: BEA; IMF; Eurostat; UNCTAD, Other | ||
U.S. FDI in partner country ($M USD, stock positions) | 2020 | $25,682 | 2019 | $1,521 | BEA data available at https://apps.bea.gov/ international/factsheet/ |
Host country’s FDI in the United States ($M USD, stock positions) | 2020 | $124 | 2019 | $-199 | BEA data available at https://www.bea.gov/international/ direct-investment-and-multinational- enterprises-comprehensive-data |
Total inbound FDI as % host GDP | 2019 | 4.3% | 2019 | 4.1% | UNCTAD data available at https://stats.unctad.org/handbook/ EconomicTrends/Fdi.html |
* Source for Host Country Data: Costa Rica’s Central Bank BCCR is the source for GDP and FDI statistics. Year-end data is published March 31 of the following year. |
Direct Investment from/in Counterpart Economy Data | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
From Top Five Sources/To Top Five Destinations (US Dollars, Millions) | |||||
Inward Direct Investment | Outward Direct Investment | ||||
Total Inward | 43,564 | 100% | Total Outward | 3,446 | 100% |
United States | 24,543 | 56.3% | Nicaragua | 1,039 | 30.2% |
Spain | 2,709 | 6.2% | Guatemala | ||
Mexico | 2,124 | 4.9% | Panama | 812 | 23.6% |
The Netherlands | 1,724 | 4.0% | United States | 128 | 3.7% |
Colombia | 1,606 | 3.7% | Colombia | 79 | 2.3% |
“0” reflects amounts rounded to +/- USD 500,000. | |||||
Costa Rica’s open and globally integrated economy receives FDI principally from the United States followed by Europe and Latin America. Costa Rica’s outward FDI is more regionally focused on its neighbors Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama, with the United States and Colombia following. The source of this information on direct investment positions is the IMF’s Coordinated Direct Investment Survey (CDIS) site (http://data.imf.org/CDIS). |
Portfolio Investment Assets | ||||||||
Top Five Partners (Millions, current US Dollars) | ||||||||
Total | Equity Securities | Total Debt Securities | ||||||
All Countries | 3,026 | 100% | All Countries | 1,776 | 100% | All Countries | 1,249 | 100% |
United States | 1,729 | 57% | United States | 871 | 49% | United States | 859 | 69% |
Luxembourg | 386 | 13% | Luxembourg | 381 | 21% | UK | 102 | 8% |
Ireland | 367 | 12% | Ireland | 365 | 21% | Australia | 44 | 4% |
Germany | 168 | 6% | Germany | 140 | 8% | Germany | 27 | 2% |
U.K. | 102 | 3% | Cayman Islands | 8 | 0% | Honduras | 22 | 2% |
The source of this information is the IMF Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS), June 2020. https://data.imf.org/?sk=B981B4E3-4E58-467E-9B90-9DE0C3367363&sId=1481577785817 |