EL TIPO DE CAMBIO DE HOY ES DE: Costa Rica surpassed USD 5.121 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) for the second consecutive year. Yet local economists interpret the figure through a different lens: 84% consisted of reinvested earnings rather than new capital inflows. Multinational employment grew by just 3 259 positions —the weakest result in years— while free trade zones, historically the backbone of the model, fell 10.5%.
"Saying that FDI held steady is technically correct, but analytically poor." — Sandro Zolezzi, research fellow at Academia de Centroamérica
What the data reveal is not continuity, but a structural recomposition. The services sector —the engine that elevated Costa Rica into a higher league— fell 34.4%, while tourism dropped 36.7%.
The cracks in the competitive model
For decades, Costa Rica's model worked on a clear formula: institutional stability, educated talent, and attractive free trade zones. Today it faces simultaneous pressures that no competitiveness index has managed to erase.
CINDE identified seven structural obstacles: talent scarcity, insecurity, deficient infrastructure, high operating costs, an overvalued exchange rate, institutional fragmentation, and declining agility in corporate services.
The country spends a mere 0.28% of its GDP on research and development, which is ten times less than the OECD average of 2.7%. Alongside Chile and Colombia, Costa Rica is among the lowest within the organization.
Anchor company exits and the growth paradox
The paradox is tangible: more investment on paper, fewer jobs in practice. One company cut its employment commitment in half; another closed after 30 years in the country; a third relocated operations to Vietnam. Without new projects renewing the productive fabric, consolidation drifts into silent stagnation.
Bets to diversify origins and territories
Costa Rica is not standing still. In February 2026, it opened an investment promotion office in Silicon Valley and is preparing to launch a second in Singapore. Switzerland contributed USD 1.003 billion in 2025 —20% of the total— displacing Colombia from second place for the first time.
Of the 19 new projects captured in 2025, 48% came from countries outside the United States, and 21% were located beyond the Greater Metropolitan Area. Small moves, but pointing in the right direction.
The inflection point and the model's next stage
The question Costa Rica is now asking is whether it can continue to attract investment, but what kind, with what quality of employment, and at what rate of adaptation. Analysts point to the need for a transition toward a second-generation knowledge economy, with massive retraining in areas where technology has not yet replaced human labor.
"Costa Rica is at a competitive inflection point." — Marianela Urgellés, General Director of CINDE.
Competitive advantage is not built by countries that celebrate past successes the loudest. It is built by those that ask the uncomfortable questions first. Costa Rica is already asking them, and in a region that is eager to attract foreign investment, that is no small thing.
Sources: CR Hoy, El Financiero CR, La República y PROCOMER.
Costa Rica surpassed USD 5.121 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) for the second consecutive year. Yet local economists interpret the figure through a different lens: 84% consisted of reinvested earnings rather than new capital inflows. Multinational employment grew by just 3 259 positions —the weakest result in years— while free trade zones, historically the backbone of the model, fell 10.5%.
"Saying that FDI held steady is technically correct, but analytically poor." — Sandro Zolezzi, research fellow at Academia de Centroamérica
What the data reveal is not continuity, but a structural recomposition. The services sector —the engine that elevated Costa Rica into a higher league— fell 34.4%, while tourism dropped 36.7%.
The cracks in the competitive model
For decades, Costa Rica's model worked on a clear formula: institutional stability, educated talent, and attractive free trade zones. Today it faces simultaneous pressures that no competitiveness index has managed to erase.
CINDE identified seven structural obstacles: talent scarcity, insecurity, deficient infrastructure, high operating costs, an overvalued exchange rate, institutional fragmentation, and declining agility in corporate services.
The country spends a mere 0.28% of its GDP on research and development, which is ten times less than the OECD average of 2.7%. Alongside Chile and Colombia, Costa Rica is among the lowest within the organization.
Anchor company exits and the growth paradox
The paradox is tangible: more investment on paper, fewer jobs in practice. One company cut its employment commitment in half; another closed after 30 years in the country; a third relocated operations to Vietnam. Without new projects renewing the productive fabric, consolidation drifts into silent stagnation.
Bets to diversify origins and territories
Costa Rica is not standing still. In February 2026, it opened an investment promotion office in Silicon Valley and is preparing to launch a second in Singapore. Switzerland contributed USD 1.003 billion in 2025 —20% of the total— displacing Colombia from second place for the first time.
Of the 19 new projects captured in 2025, 48% came from countries outside the United States, and 21% were located beyond the Greater Metropolitan Area. Small moves, but pointing in the right direction.
The inflection point and the model's next stage
The question Costa Rica is now asking is whether it can continue to attract investment, but what kind, with what quality of employment, and at what rate of adaptation. Analysts point to the need for a transition toward a second-generation knowledge economy, with massive retraining in areas where technology has not yet replaced human labor.
"Costa Rica is at a competitive inflection point." — Marianela Urgellés, General Director of CINDE.
Competitive advantage is not built by countries that celebrate past successes the loudest. It is built by those that ask the uncomfortable questions first. Costa Rica is already asking them, and in a region that is eager to attract foreign investment, that is no small thing.
