The Local Perception Of The Investment Climate Has Improved

Every six months, Curaçao’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) conducts a business cycle survey, in which they contact local companies of all sizes on the island. The most recent survey, which took place from June to August of this year and covered the first half of 2021, contacted over 460 of those companies.

According to this survey’s findings, investing in innovation or replacement is “extremely important” for a company’s survival and maintenance. “Investments are a sine qua non if a company wants to make a profit and, more importantly, continue to make a profit.”

The investment climate is also measured in this business survey. “One of the determining factors for investing in a company is the investment climate, also known as the entrepreneurial climate.”

By the middle of 2021, sentiment among companies on the island about the investment climate had “significantly improved” when compared to December 2020. Significantly fewer businesses have stated that the current climate is “unfavorable.”

The proportion of businesses that say the climate is ‘good’ has risen slightly, from 3 to 4 percent. Clearly, more businesses consider the investment climate to be ‘moderate.’ This has increased by 16 percentage points to the pre-corona level of 2019, from 40 to 57 percent.

Naturally, the survey also makes distinctions between businesses with few, more, and many employees. In small businesses with fewer than ten employees, 51% said the investment climate was ‘moderate’ (was 32 percent).

“The situation has also improved among medium-sized companies, and the percentages have improved,” the CBS reported. In this case, the percentage of ‘moderate’ has increased from 43 to 58 percent, while the percentage of ‘poor’ has decreased from 53 to 37 percent. More than 5% believe the current investment climate is favorable (was less than 4 percent as of December 2020).

The improvement in the perception of the investment climate has occurred primarily in large companies – those with more than 50 employees. A third of these companies believe the investment climate is ‘poor’ as of June 2021. It was still 52% in December. Furthermore, more large companies find it ‘moderate’; 61 percent of these companies find it ‘moderate’ (previously 45 percent). The proportion of ‘good’ has risen slightly, from 3 to 6 percent.