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Business Profile
Economy: Nicaragua’s economic travails during the last 20 years have left it one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Agriculture is the main economic activity, with cotton, coffee, sugar, bananas and meat the principal exports. Maize, beans and rice are grown for domestic consumption. The principal manufacturing industries are food, drinks, the production of chemicals and oil refining. There is also a small mining industry working deposits of gold, silver, lead and zinc. Some key industrial operations were nationalised following the 1979 Sandinista revolution but the bulk of the economy was left in private hands. Since then, state-controlled industries have reverted to private ownership, but the period of Sandinista rule brought economic decline largely as a result of domestic mismanagement, Western economic sanctions and civil war. During the 1990s, Nicaragua implemented a Structural Adjustment programme supervised by the IMF. The results were mixed but, during the same period, the Nicaraguans successfully developed new export markets in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the former USSR and Canada; they also attracted some economic aid from some of these sources. Some of the aid was provided as emergency assistance in the wake of a series of natural disasters – successive floods and droughts – which caused considerable damage to the agricultural economy. Nicaragua has a huge foreign debt and was a beneficiary of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2001. The same year, the country was consumed by an economic crisis triggered by drought, financial instability (the private banking sector has all but collapsed) and exceptionally low commodity prices. Nicaragua’s largest trading partners are the USA (over one third of the total), Germany, Spain, El Salvador and to a lesser extent, Nicaragua’s other Central and South American neighbours. Nicaragua is a member of the Central American Common Market and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Business: Businessmen wear business suits with ties, or long-sleeved shirts and smart trousers; businesswomen wear business dresses. A knowledge of Spanish is an advantage, although some businesspeople speak English. Enquire at the Embassy for interpreter services. The best time to visit is November to March. Office hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1700.
Commercial Information: The following organisations can offer advice: Cámara de Comercio de Nicaragua, PO Box 135-C-001, Managua (tel: (2) 683 505 or 683 514; fax: (2) 683 600; e-mail: comercio@ibw.com.ni); or Servicio Información Comercial, Centro de Expertaciones e Inversiones, Hotel Intercontinental, 1 cuadra abajo y 1.5 cuadras al sur 1208, PO Box 5932, Managua (tel: (2) 683 860; fax: (2) 664 476; e-mail: nmolina@cei.org.ni; website: www.cei.org.ni).
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