PESTEL Analysis Costa Rica
Political Analysis
• Costa Rica has emphasized strongly in the development of democracy and respect for human rights.
• Costa Rica lacks armed forces therefore they are free of military infringement.
• Costa Rican law protects the formation of contracts.
• Costa Rican law protects Copyrights, Trade Marks, Encrypted Program-Carrying Satellite Signals, Industrial Designs, Patents, Geographical Indication, Trade regulations & tariffs.
• The US is Costa Rica’s main trading partner
• Anti-trust laws are enforced in Costa Rica to maintain fairness between businesses. (Central America Data, 2008)
• Costa Rica has no official pricing rules.
• Individuals and businesses living in Costa Rica are obliged to pay income tax only on income derived from sources within the country.
• Minimum wage in Costa Rica ranges from 107,883 Costa Rican colones a month for domestic employees to 397,665 colones for university graduates.
• The workweek is 6 days.
• A 60% pension in the last 240 months in mandatory after 62 years.
Economic Analysis
• Costa Rica is part of U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-CAFTA) and TLC which means Free Trade Agreement.
• A big advantage of Costa Rica is its relationship with the US and the fact the Costa Rica is the US most important trade partner.
• Currency: Costa Rica Colon (CRC).
• 1 US dollar is equivalent to 504.84 colones.
• Property taxes are only 0.25 %
• GDP (2010): $38.27 billion.
• GDP PPP (2009 est.): $48.19 billion.
• Inflation (2010 est.): 6.9%.
• Real growth rate (2010 est.): 3.6%.
• Per capita income: (2009) $6,900; (2010 est., PPP) $10,569.
• Unemployment (2010 est.): 6.7%.
Social Analysis
• Population: