Costa Rica

Ease of Doing Business in

Costa Rica

This page summarizes Doing Business 2013 data for Costa Rica. The first table lists the overall "Ease of Doing Business" rank (out of 185 economies) and the rankings by each topic. It also lists the economy's distance to frontier (DTF)** measure. The rest of the tables summarize the key indicators for each topic and benchmark against regional and high-income economy (OECD) averages.

Economy Overview

Region Latin America & Caribbean
Income Category Upper middle income
Population 4,726,575
GNI Per Capita (US$) 7,660
Doing Business 2013 Rank Doing Business 2012 Rank Change in Rank
110 122 down 12

Doing Business 2013 DTF** (% points) Doing Business 2012 DTF** (% points) Improvement in DTF** (% points)
57.0 54.9 down 2.1
Topic Rankings DB 2013 Rank DB 2012 Rank Change in Rank
Starting a Business 128 125 up -3
Dealing with Construction Permits 128 139 up 11
Getting Electricity 45 43 up -2
Registering Property 46 45 up -1
Getting Credit 83 97 up 14
Protecting Investors 169 167 up -2
Paying Taxes 125 135 up 10
Trading Across Borders 51 62 up 11
Enforcing Contracts 128 127 up -1
Resolving Insolvency 128 127 up -1

Economy Profile

1684.8 KB pdf file

Download Now

Dealing with Construction Permits

Info

Shown below are the procedures, time, and costs to build a warehouse, including obtaining necessary licenses and permits, completing required notifications and inspections, and obtaining utility connections.

DB 2013 Rank 128 DB 2012 Rank 139 Change in Rank up11
DB 2013 DTF** (% points) 71.3 DB 2012 DTF** (% points) 66.2 Improvement in DTF** (% points) up5.1
Indicator Costa Rica Latin America & Caribbean OECD

The total number of procedures required to build a warehouse. A procedure is any interaction of the company’s employees or managers with external parties.

View methodology
Procedures (number)
18 13 14

The total number of days required to build a warehouse. The measure captures the median duration that local experts indicate is necessary to complete a procedure in practice.

View methodology
Time (days)
160 225 143

Cost is recorded as a percentage of the economy’s income per capita. Only official costs are recorded.

View methodology
Cost (% of income per capita)
154.7 143.7 78.7
No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Request and obtain zoning authorization (uso de suelo) from the Municipal Government 10 days no charge
* 2 Request and obtain approval from National Environment Technical Secretary 60 days CRC 1,000,000
3 Request and obtain approval of blue prints by College of Architects and Engineers 20 days CRC 1,158,860
4 Request and obtain approval by the Water Department (Acueductos y Alcantarillados) 5 days no charge
* 5 Request and obtain workers compensation insurance proof from National Insurance Institute 7 days no charge
6 Request and obtain construction permit from Municipal Government 25 days CRC 4,367,398
7 Receive on-site inspection-I 1 day no charge
8 Receive on-site inspection-II 1 day no charge
9 Receive on-site inspection-III 1 day no charge
10 Receive on-site inspection-IV 1 day no charge
11 Receive on-site inspection-V 1 day no charge
12 Receive on-site inspection-VI 1 day no charge
13 Receive on-site inspection-VII 1 day no charge
14 Request and obtain telephone connection 14 days CRC 25,000
* 15 Request water connection 1 day no charge
* 16 Receive water department inspection and pay connection cost 1 day CRC 79,520
* 17 Connect to water services 28 days no charge
* 18 Obtain occupancy permit from Municipal Government 35 days no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.

** The distance to frontier (DTF) measure shows the distance of each economy to the "frontier," which represents the highest performance observed on each of the indicators across all economies included in Doing Business since each indicator was included in Doing Business. An economy’s distance to frontier is indicated on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 represents the lowest performance and 100 the frontier. Read more...

Explore Economy Data


- OR -

Close