A study by consulting company Manpower released Tuesday indicates that 79 percent of private-sector employers in Costa Rica have no staff changes planned for the first quarter of next year, and only 5 percent plan to lay off workers.
Casa Presidencial and the Foreign Trade Ministry announced Thursday that the government is in discussions with the South Korean company Wells Communications, Inc. to develop a national LED public lighting system that would also provide free wireless Internet.
The cost of mandatory technical vehicle inspections in Costa Rica will remain unchanged for the next 12 months, as the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) on Tuesday evening rejected a rates-hike request of up to 202 percent, depending on the type of vehicle.
RITEVE says vehicle inspection rates haven't increased in 10 years, and blames the Public Works and Transport Ministry for failing to issue a methodology to calculate them.
The Finance Ministry and the Inter-American Development Bank have been trying to speed up the implementation of more than $1.7 billion worth of development loans in energy, infrastructure, security, education and other strategic sectors. Costa Rica has struggled to complete its public works projects in the past, including those with IDB funding, on time and on budget, according to Casa Presidencial.
A solid majority of Limón residents say that a $1 billion APM Terminals port project will be a positive thing for the impoverished region, according to a survey from Borges y Asociados. The poll results came out soon before the government announced it would restart negotiations with striking dockworkers on Thursday morning.
A Tico Times reporter takes a stroll down Limón's main boulevard and asks local residents what they think about a proposed $1 billion Moín Port expansion project at the center of the ongoing controversy.
During President Laura Chinchilla's term from 2010-2014, administration officials and lawmakers passed nine pieces of legislation and one executive decree aimed at helping middle-income Ticos buy homes. Yet despite the effort, little was accomplished toward the goal of increasing the number of homeowners nationwide.
Expectations for companies to hire new workers in the last quarter of this year have dropped in all sectors and are at the lowest level in recent years, the consultant company Manpower reported on its Costa Rica Employment Outlook Survey 4Q released Tuesday.
