Wal-Mart to invest $54 million in Nicaragua this year

Wal-Mart will invest $54 million in Nicaragua this year, the manager of the company’s Nicaragua operations announced Monday morning, according to Nicaragua’s El Nuevo Diario.

Vernon Narváez Valverde, manager of the Nicaraguan headquarters of Wal-Mart of Mexico and Central America, said the investment will include the opening of 14 stores throughout the country, including León and Estelí. The new sites will bring 400 jobs to the country.

“We have never before invested so much into Nicaragua,” Valverde said, adding that the decision to open the stores was “purely economic.”

When the new Wal-Marts open, it will give the country 73 total stores. Approximately 528 Wal-Marts operate in Central America. Wal-Mart announced in April that it would open 24 new stores in Costa Rica as part of a $160.5 million investment in the country.