In 2017, Spanish companies seek to promote investment in Central America

Madrid, March 17, 2017. - The interest and presence of Spanish companies in the Central American region has had slow but solid growth. With respect to regional ranking, Panama is the Central American country with the most Spanish companies and is followed by Costa Rica in such sectors as tourism or technology.

In addition, Spanish investment initiatives have been mainly executed in Guatemala and El Salvador, followed by Nicaragua and Honduras; the latter countries have had the least investment by Spanish companies so far, however, their future outlook is positive.

Two of the most attractive sectors for Spanish investors involve construction and tourism. Increasingly,  there are more small and medium-sized enterprises who see the size of Central America as an advantage more than a problem, resulting in more franchisees, consultancy companies, law firms and fashion or food companies joining the initiative in order to begin a regional disembarkation.

In this regard, the recent agreement between the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and Spain’s Official Credit Institute (ICO), which is the entity dedicated to promoting economic activities that contribute to the growth and improvement of the country's wealth distribution, will facilitate the arrival of new SMEs to the region in the coming quarters and years. This financial mechanism is also in line with the free trade agreement between Central America and the European Union.

Spain’s 10th Latin American Investment Report, which was prepared by the IE BUSINESS SCHOOL with support from Air France, KLM and Llorente y Cuenca also values the region’s economic situation as positive. On a scale from 0 to 5, with any score above 2.5 being positive, Costa Rica achieves a valuation of 3.76 (with a rise of 0.21 points), and Panama at 3.69, placing both countries in the TOP 5 countries with the best economic valuation, pursuant to Spanish entrepreneurs, and ahead of other countries, including Mexico (3.67) or Brazil. In addition, Guatemala achieved 2.86, Nicaragua 2.82, El Salvador 2.75 and Honduras 2.7.

The report’s technical director, Mr. Igor Galo stated that, “During talks with the 76 participating companies, we perceived a generally positive vision of Central America, although insecurity stands out as the main problem. Beyond this, we believe that there is a lack of the region’s promotion in Spain and Europe as a destination for private investment, especially if we take into account that together, the six countries account for 40 million inhabitants, which represent multiple opportunities for large companies and for SMEs. However, we noted significant interest in exploring opportunities in the region, which has been demonstrated in workshops held on the subject of Investing in Central America at Casa de América (Madrid).”

The Latin American Spanish Investment report began to include disaggregated data by country on 2014, at the request of the participating companies due to the fact that until 2014, Panama was analyzed on the weight of the Canal, and the rest of the region was analyzed separately. One of the goals for 2018 involves a detailed analysis of each Central American market.

In this regard, CABEI Executive President explained that, "CABEI has in depth knowledge about Central America because of its close relationship with the region’s governments and is aware of each country’s strategy. Furthermore, it supports the implementation of such strategies, thus promoting development in different sectors of its member countries."

President Rischbieth also stated that "The recent agreement between CABEI and ICEX confirms the Bank’s commitment to continue working with the governments of the region, mainly supporting initiatives that foster national and foreign investment in order to improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)."


The complete report free of charge and in PDF format is available at: informeinversionlatam.ie.edu.