Editing Economy of Costa Rica (section)

==Exports, jobs, and energy==

[[Image:Intel Costa 12 2007 SJO 105b.jpg|thumb| [[Intel]] microprocessor facility in Costa Rica]]
Mere decades ago, Costa Rica was known principally as a producer of [[banana]]s and [[coffee]]. Even though bananas, [[pineapple]], [[sugar]], coffee, [[lumber]], [[wood]] products and beef are still important exports, in recent times medical instruments,<ref name="mit.edu"/> [[electronics]], [[pharmaceuticals]], financial outsourcing, software development, and [[ecotourism]] are now the prime exports. High levels of [[education]] and fluency in English among its residents make the country an attractive [[investing]] location.<ref name="auto"/>

In 2015 the following were the major export products (US$): medical instruments ($2 [[billion]]), bananas ($1.24B), tropical fruits ($1.22B), integrated circuits ($841 [[million]]) and orthopedic appliances ($555M). The total exports in 2015 were US$12.6 billion, down from $18.9B in 2010; bananas and medical instruments were the two largest sectors. Total imports in 2015 were $15B, up from $13.8B in 2010; this resulted in a trade deficit.<ref name="mit.edu"/>

Over the years, Costa Rica successfully attracted important investments by such companies as [[Intel|Intel Corporation]], [[Procter & Gamble]], [[Abbott Laboratories]] and Baxter Healthcare. Manufacturing and industry's contribution to GDP overtook agriculture over the course of the 1990s, led by foreign investment in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where companies benefit from investment and tax incentives. Companies in such zones must export at least 50% of their services.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinde.org/en/why/incentives|title=The Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica|website=cinde.org|accessdate=2 April 2018}}</ref> Well over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinde.org/en/why/success-stories|title=CINDE – Why Invest in Costa Rica|website=cinde.org|accessdate=2 April 2018}}</ref> According to the government, the zones supported over 82 thousand direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs in 2015; direct employment grew 5% over 2014. The average wages in the FTZ increased by 7% and were 1.8 times greater than the average for private enterprise work in the rest of the country.<ref name="news.co.cr"/> Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for example, include Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americafreezone.com/v2/?q=en|title=America Free Zone|website=americafreezone.com|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cinde.org/en/news/videos/okay-industries-expands-operation-in-costa-rica-and-reinvests-us-2-million|title=Okay Industries Expands Operation in Costa Rica and Reinvests US$ 2 Million|date=19 June 2017|website=cinde.org|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref>

In 2006 [[Intel]]'s microprocessor facility alone was responsible for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 4.9% of the country's [[GDP]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/81837/10/06/Intel-supone-el-49-por-ciento-del-PIB-de-Costa-Rica.html |title=Intel supone el 4,9 por ciento del PIB de Costa Rica|date=2006-10-06|newspaper=El Economista|access-date=2008-04-13|language=es }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lavanguardia.es/premium/publica/publica?COMPID=53410660334&ID_PAGINA=22088&ID_FORMATO=9&turbourl=false|title=Intel fabrica el procesador "más veloz del mundo" en Costa Rica|date=2007-11-13|newspaper=La Vanguardia|access-date=2008-04-13|language=es|archive-date=2008-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080412030047/http://www.lavanguardia.es/premium/publica/publica?COMPID=53410660334&ID_PAGINA=22088&ID_FORMATO=9&turbourl=false|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2014, Intel announced it would end manufacturing in Costa Rica and lay off 1,500 staff but agreed to maintain at least 1,200 employees. The facility continued as a test and design center with approximately 1,600 remaining staff.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-intel-costa-rica-idUSBREA371TJ20140409|title=Intel closes Costa Rica operation, cuts 1,500 jobs|newspaper=Reuters|date=2014-04-08}}</ref> In 2017, Intel had 2000 employees in the country, and was operating a facility which assembles, tests and distributes processors<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/jobs/locations/costa-rica/sites.html|title=Intel Locations in Costa Rica|website=Intel|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref> and a Global Innovation Center, both in Heredia.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/intel-in-costa-rica.html|title=Intel in Costa Rica|website=Intel|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref>

The fastest growing aspect of the economy is the provision of corporate services for foreign companies which in 2016 employed approximately 54,000 people in a country with a workforce under 342,000; that was up from 52,400 the previous year. For example, [[Amazon.com]] employs some 5,000 people. Many work in the free-trade areas such as Zona Franca America and earn roughly double the national average for service work. This sector generated US$4.6 billion in 2016, nearly as much as tourism.<ref name="seattletimes.com"/>

In 2013, the total FDI stock in Costa Rica amounted to about 40 percent of GDP, of which investments from the United States accounted for 64 percent, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain with 6 percent each.<ref name=imfr/>  Costa Rica's outward foreign direct investment stock is small, at about 3 percent of
GDP as of 2011, and mainly concentrated in Central America (about 57 percent of the total outward direct investment stock).<ref name=imfr>{{cite web|url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2013/cr1380.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704095852/http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2013/cr1380.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-04 |url-status=live|title=imf.org: "Costa Rica: Selected Issues – IMF Country Report No. 13/80" Mar 2013|website=imf.org|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref>

[[Tourism]] is an important part of the economy, with the number of visitors increasing from 780,000 in 1996, to 1 million in 1999, and to 2.089 million foreign visitors in 2008, allowing the country to earn $2.144-billion in that year.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2007/diciembre/19/economia1358245.html|language=es|date=2007-12-19|access-date=2008-04-13|newspaper=La Nación|title=País cierra el año con llegada de 1,9 millones de turistas|first1=Hassel|last1=Fallas|trans-title=Country closes year with the arrival of 1.9 million tourists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723210756/http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2007/diciembre/19/economia1358245.html|archive-date=2008-07-23}}</ref> By 2016, 2.6 million tourists visited Costa Rica, spending roughly US$3.4 billion.<ref name="news.co.cr2"/> Tourism directly supported 110,000 jobs and indirectly supported 271,000 in 2016.<ref name="wttc.org"/>

{{anchor|Energy}}Costa Rica has not discovered sources of fossil fuels—apart from minor [[coal]] deposits—but its mountainous terrain and abundant rainfall have permitted the construction of a dozen [[hydroelectric power]] plants, making it self-sufficient in all energy needs, except for refined petroleum. In 2017, Costa Rica was considering the export of electricity to neighbouring countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/05/costa-rica-renewable-energy-oil-cars|title=All that glitters is not green: Costa Rica's renewables conceal dependence on oil|first=Lindsay|last=Fendt|date=5 January 2017|website=the Guardian|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref> Mild climate and trade winds make neither heating nor cooling necessary, particularly in the highland cities and towns where some 90% of the population lives.
[[Renewable energy in Costa Rica]] is the norm. In 2016, 98.1 per cent of the country's electricity came from green sources: hydro generating stations, geothermal plants, wind turbines, solar panels and biomass plants.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/costa-rica-renewable-energy-electricity-production-2016-climate-change-fossil-fuels-global-warming-a7505341.html|title=Costa Rica's electricity was produced almost entirely from renewable sources in 2016|date=2 January 2017|website=independent.co.uk|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref>