Januari 2008: Nieuwsflits Guatemala
From Handelswijzer Midden-Amerika van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Ambassade te Costa Rica
CENTRAL BANK TO REVISE ECONOMIC GROWTH PERSPECTIVES FOR 2008
Analysts in Guatemala are pessimistic about the global economic outlook due to a potential recession in the United States. This is reflected in the Confidence Index of Economic Activity, a poll carried out by the Central Bank among a group of analysts, research centres, banks and companies. 75% of the respondents were negative about their expectations for the Guatemalan economy in the next six months and 62.5% said the economy currently is not better than a year ago.
Questioned by Congress about the effect a recession in the United States could have in our country, President of the Central Bank, Antonieta de Bonilla, stated that the goal for economic growth (5.3%) in 2008 will be revised now that the IMF reduced estimations for growth in the U.S.A. (reduced from 1.9% to 1.5%). The World Bank estimates that economic growth will be 4.6% of the GDP.
Even though the global outlook is uncertain, local private analysts believe that the Guatemalan economy will not suffer a big impact predict a growth of 4.7% in 2008.
GEOTOURISM MAP OF GUATEMALA TO BE DEVELOPED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Guatemala will be among six countries worldwide to have a Geotourism map supported by National Geographic. This project will include contributions from Guatemalans on historic data, traditions, or activities that identify their community, geographic location, weather, latitude and altitude and culinary diversity.
Jim Dion, Director of the National Geographic Centre for Sustainable Destinies, explained that Guatemala is the first country in which this type of map will be elaborated; it had been done before but only for specific communities or destinations. He stated that they will invest US$100.000 in the cartography team.
This project, which seeks to promote the development of sustainable tourism destinies, is also supported by the Guatemalan Tourist Institute, the National Coffee Association, USAID and Conterpart.
Dion explained that Guatemala was chosen because of its great diversity, its culture, people, languages and food.
WORLD BANK: GUATEMALA MADE GOOD IMPROVEMENTS IN INVESTMENT CLIMATE IN 2006-2007
According to a report from the World Bank, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic were among the few countries in Latin America that made reforms to simplify the process of starting up new companies and who made improvements in the investment climate. However the report also states that Latin America was the region with the lowest development in this areas in the period 2006-2007.
GUATEMALAN EXPORTS REACHED RECORD FIGURES IN 2007
Guatemalan sales to foreign destinies grew 20% compared to the previous year, according to statistics from the Central Bank. The numbers show that in 2007 goods exports reached US$ 4 million 291 thousand, compared to US$ 3 million 424 thousand in 2006. This contributed to the reduction of the commercial deficit which reached US$ 5 million in 2007 compared to US$6 million the previous year.
This boost was due mainly to the increase in sales of traditional products such as banana and coffee. Other non traditional products that contributed were fruits and vegetables and mineral products.
RECORD TAX COLLECTION IN 2007
Tributary Administrator, Carolina Roca, described tax collection in 2007 as “extraordinary”, reaching an amount of €2.8 billion, compared to €2.4 billion in 2006. The amount collected in 2007 was €0.17 billion higher than expected.
Value Added Tax (VAT) represented 51.8% of the total collected; domestic VAT had an increase of 33% and Import VAT of 18%.
According to Roca, this increase was due to a higher presence of tax programs, the improvement of security in customs and a better service for tax payers. She also mentioned that a reduction in tax evasion was also important, for example in VAT it decreased to 26.1% compared to 42.7% in 1998. “There is still work to be done in order to make collection more effective”, she added.
LOCAL BANKS TO HAVE STRICTER INSPECTIONS STARTING IN 2008
As of January 2008, local banks and financial institutions will have to send a daily report of their balance and investments to the Bank Superintendence. Up until December 2007 this was done weekly. This is part of a new set of measures to have more rigid control and more information on this sector.
The President of the Bankers Association of Guatemala explained that the local financial system had to modify its computer programs and invest time and resources in order to comply with these new measures.
Another measure was the reduction of the period to deliver monthly bank reports from 15 to 5 days; the objective is to have more and timely information.
In general, this new measures where well received by the financial sector. According to Federico Linares, former president of the Central Bank and president of G&T Bank, this is positive and will provide a better transparency in financial statements.
PRESIDENT BERGER ORDERED RAISE IN MINIMUM WAGE FOR 2008
Before concluding his term, former President Oscar Berger ordered a small raise in minimum wage for agricultural and non agricultural activities. This increase of 5.5% will be equivalent to approximately €4.12 daily for agricultural activities and Q4.19 daily for non agricultural activities.
Even though this increase will benefit around 150 thousand workers, mainly in the agricultural area, this decision was not well received by the employers who where opposed to the raise, or the unions who demanded a raise of 40%.
Minimum wages are not widely enforced in Guatemala.
