Costa Rican Chamber of Industries

Industrial entrepreneurs consider the country's high electricity tariffs as the main factor affecting their companies’ competitiveness, as well as costs of social security, high fuel prices, bad road infrastructure, unfair competition from informal businesses, and high taxes.

ARESEP approved the new fuel prices on Monday and they went into effect on Tuesday when the agency published them in the official newspaper La Gaceta.

The first fuel price adjustment should have been approved by Oct. 28, while the one filed last week should have been ready within the next two weeks; however, there's no telling how long the process will now take.

Costa Rican entrepreneurs expect hiring to stagnate while the number of private-sector companies considering staff cuts has increased in recent months, two recent studies find.

The Millennium Industrial Complex will house approximately 40 small- and medium-sized enterprises that have “export potential,” Costa Rican Chamber of Industries President Enrique Egloff said.