fDi Caribbean & Central American Countries of the Future 2011/12

Costa Rica has been awarded fDi’s Caribbean & Central American Countries of the Future 2011/12

Costa Rica has climbed from second position to be ranked as the most attractive country in the Caribbean & Central America for foreign direct investment. Costa Rica’s dominance in this year’s ranking is no surprise given its successful record in attracting FDI into the country. The Dominican Republic claimed second position, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in third.

Costa Rica topped the category Best Human Resources, as well as ranking in the top two for Best Economic Potential, Best for Business Friendliness and Best FDI Strategy.

The Dominican Republic was ranked second overall in the biennial ranking of countries across the region. fDi’s independent judging panel perceived the Dominican Republic to have the Best FDI Strategy.

Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados made an appearance in the top 10 Caribbean & Central American Countries of the future, ranking in third and fourth place, respectively. Trinidad and Tobago displayed strong economic potential, ranking fifth in this category, coupled with obtaining second position in the Cost Effectiveness category.

Highlights include:-

• According to fDi Markets, Costa Rica has been the number one destination country in the region in terms of FDI project numbers since 2003. Costa Rica attracted a total of 227 FDI projects between 2003 and 2010 compared with only 178 FDI projects investing in Panama, Costa Rica’s closest competitor in the region. However, the latest figures released by fDi Markets have shown that from January to May 2011, Panama has, so far, attracted more FDI projects than Costa Rica.
• Despite only ranking in fifth position, fDi Markets has indicated that Panama is on its way to attract more FDI projects in 2011 than in 2010. As a result, Panama was awarded the title of the Best Caribbean & Central American Country of the Future for Economic Potential 2011/12. The country also topped the category for Best Infrastructure.
• Barbados was placed in the top five of the categories: Best Human Resources, Best FDI Strategy and Best for Quality of Life.
• Puerto  Rico was awarded the title of the best country in the Caribbean & Central American region for business friendliness in the 2011/12 ranking.
• Other winners include El Salvador, ranked as the most cost-effective country in the region; British Virgin Islands, which knocked Turks and Caicos off the top spot to rank as the country with the best quality of life.

-ends-

The full results and rankings are available on www.fDiIntelligence.com/Rankings – please register to download the full results for free. For further information please contact Tamsin Purchase, tamsin.purchase@ft.com or +44(0)20 7775 6342.

Notes to editors

About fDi Caribbean and Central American Countries of the Future 2011/12

• fDi Intelligence compiled most of the data for the Caribbean & Central American Countries of the Future ranking with the exception of the FDI Strategy. For this category information was submitted by individual countries and scored by fDi’s independent judging panel.

• Methodology: fDi’s Countries of the Future shortlists are created by an independent collection of data by the fDi Intelligence division across 31 Caribbean & Central American countries. This information was organised under six categories: Economic Potential, Human Resources, Cost Effectiveness, Quality of Life, Infrastructure and Business Friendliness. A seventh FDI Strategy category was added; 17 countries submitted details about their promotion strategy and this was judged and scored by the independent judging panel. Countries scored up to a maximum of 10 points under each criterion, which was weighted by importance to give the overall scores.

• Full results available on www.fDiIntelligence.com/Rankings and in fDi Magazine – August/September 2011 issue.

About fDi Intelligence

• fDi Intelligence, from The Financial Times Ltd, is the leading provider of foreign direct investment intelligence. The portfolio encompasses world class products, services and business tools that allow companies and Economic Development Organisations alike to make informed decisions regarding foreign direct investment.

• Products within the portfolio include fDi Markets, a database tracking crossborder greenfield investment on a real-time basis; fDi Benchmark, a database which benchmarks global locations on their attractiveness to foreign investors; and fDi Magazine.
• www.fDiIntelligence.com

About The Financial Times

• The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business news organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community.

Referencing

Please state the source as fDi Magazine from The Financial Times Ltd.