Central American Foreign Trade and Economy

1. Introduction to the Central American region: Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama
2. Central American Economy
3. International Trade of Central America
4. Investment in Central America
5. Central American Integration System

Central American Economy

The objectives of the subject “Economy of Central America” are the following:

1. To know the economic profile of the Central American Countries
2. To analyze the strengths and trends of the Central American Economy
3. To evaluate the Central American foreign trade and the foreign direct investment flows
4. To understand the role of the Central American Integration System in the region

The Subject “Central American Economy and International Trade” belongs to the following Programs taught by EENI Global Business School:

Masters: International Business, Foreign Trade.

Doctorate in World Trade.

Languages: or America Central Amerique Centrale América Central.

1. Credits of the Subject “Central American Economy”: 1

The Central American region consists of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Owing to the recent political and economic integration in Central America (Central American Common Market, Central American Integration System, CARICOM) in this analysis we include the Dominican Republic, geographically linked to the Caribbean, but economically linked to Central America.

All these countries belong to the Hispanic American Economic Area.

The Central American Economy (the sum of the economies of all the countries in the region), represents the sixth largest economy in Hispanic America (after Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru).

Foreign Trade in goods between the Central America markets and the rest of the world has been developed positively in the recent years.

1. The United States is the main trading partner of Central America (31.6% of the total exports of the region and the 33.4% of the total imports)
2. Four export products (coffee, bananas, integrated circuits, and parts for machines) stand for 25.1% of the total exports to the world
3. The largest importer from Central American countries are the United States and South America (Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, and Argentina)
4. The Central American Common Market (MCCA) is the second-largest trading partner of the Central American Countries (29.4% of the exports and 12.7% of imports)

The Central American region has a population of 41,739 million people, and an area of 522,760 km² (1% of the World area).

Country (Capital) - Population (in million)
- Belize (Belmopan): 322,100
- Costa Rica (San Jose): 4,579
- El Salvador (San Salvador): 7,185,218
- Guatemala (Guatemala City): 14,027
- Honduras (Tegucigalpa): 7,466
- Nicaragua (Managua) 5,743
- Panama (Panama City): 3,454