Free Trade Zone exports triple since 2006
NSCAG News |
on: Monday, 16 June 2014
According to Alvaro Baltodano, presidential advisor on investments, exports from Nicaragua’s free trade zones (FTZs) have increased from US$896 million in 2006 to US$2.56 billion in 2013. The majority of the factories are owned by North Americans, Central Americans, Mexicans, European, and Asians. Over 112,000 people are employed in the FTZs, 53% of them women. Speaking at a forum on the tripartite agreements between business, government and workers that maintain wages and stability in the sector, Jose Adan Aguerri of the Superior Council on Private Enterprise (COSEP) noted that FTZ exports amount to half Nicaragua’s annual exports. On June 4, FTZ workers from all the unions met in Managua for the First National Assembly of FTZ Workers with the slogan, “United for more jobs, labour stability and development.”
