Costa Rica’s services sector is a key economic driver, but the foreign direct investment (FDI) data tells a different story. Of the over $5 billion in foreign investment in 2025, manufacturing took the largest share at $3.8 billion; services, by contrast, have declined consistently over the past three years.
In 2025 alone, Costa Rica’s services sector FDI dipped by 34.4% from a 54.4% decline in 2024 and 3% fall in 2023, according to the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER).
Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency or CINDE’s data show a similar trend: Of the 19 new investments it attracted in 2025, about 69% (13 projects) were in the services category. Despite that, there has been a decline compared to previous years, indicating a relative “slowdown” compared to other sectors.
Region's investment experts attribute it to Costa Rica's conscious effort to focus on higher-value services rather than volume. They claim that as the country moves away from low-cost support tasks to niche categories such as software development, cloud, and AI, another big trend has started to take shape.
“Costa Rica is becoming a sandbox where processes can be tested and accelerated, leveraging the knowledge that already exists in the market. Once established, these processes can easily be moved to another location,” says Ana María Romero, Director of Investment Advisory at CINDE, told Nearshore Americas.