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Costa Rica ranks fourth globally in greenfield FDI performance

By IDEAS

Costa Rica ranked fourth worldwide in the 2026 Greenfield FDI Performance Index, published by fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times service specializing in foreign direct investment. The index measures countries’ performance in attracting new greenfield foreign direct investment projects relative to the size of their economies. Costa Rica was the highest-ranked country in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The 2026 edition is the 11th edition of the index and evaluates 98 economies that attracted at least 10 greenfield FDI projects during 2025, using data from fDi Markets, the foreign investment project database operated by fDi Intelligence. The main ranking compares each country’s share of global announced greenfield FDI projects with its share of global GDP. A score above 1 indicates that a country attracted a larger proportion of global projects than would be expected from the size of its economy.

Costa Rica received an index score of 6.5, meaning that its share of announced greenfield FDI projects was 6.5 times its share of global GDP. The country ranked behind the United Arab Emirates, Namibia and Rwanda. The UAE recorded a score of 19.21, followed by Namibia at 7.74 and Rwanda at 6.99.

The index is specifically focused on greenfield investment, which refers to projects in which a company establishes new operations or facilities in another country. It therefore differs from rankings based on total FDI inflows, which can include reinvested earnings, mergers and acquisitions and other forms of investment. The 2026 edition also introduced separate rankings measuring FDI projects and capital expenditure relative to population.

According to fDi Markets data, the United Arab Emirates attracted 1,533 inward FDI projects in 2025, the second-highest number globally after the United States. More than half of the UAE's projects were in business, technology and financial services. Namibia ranked second in the overall performance index after attracting 16 projects, while Rwanda ranked third, with increased activity in financial services and pharmaceuticals.

Costa Rica's position in the index comes alongside more than US$5 billion in total FDI inflows in 2025. According to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica cited by the country's Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (PROCOMER), total FDI reached US$5.1218 billion, compared with US$5.1135 billion in 2024 after an upward revision.

The composition of those inflows differed from the greenfield figures measured by the fDi Intelligence index. Reinvestments accounted for US$4.328 billion in 2025, the highest amount recorded by Costa Rica and a 26% increase. New capital amounted to US$895 million, an 18% decline from the previous year. PROCOMER said the reduction was consistent with the global decline in greenfield investment projects during 2025.

The free-trade-zone regime accounted for 66.4% of Costa Rica's total FDI inflows in 2025. Companies operating under the Definitive Regime accounted for 15.2%, followed by tourism at 7.5%, real estate at 6.9%, the financial sector at 3.1% and inward processing at 1%.

Manufacturing was the largest recipient of FDI, with US$3.8973 billion, an increase of 7.1% compared with 2024. PROCOMER attributed the increase primarily to reinvestment by medical-device companies. Agriculture recorded 107.3% growth in FDI, while financial services increased by 34.7% and real estate by 20.2%. FDI in services declined by 34.4%.

The medical-device sector continues to feature prominently among Costa Rica's foreign investors. PROCOMER identified investment and reinvestment announcements involving companies including Insulet, Boston Scientific, Zimmer Biomet, Johnson & Johnson, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Trelleborg, Cretex Medical, Medtronic, Mozarc Medical and Penumbra. PROCOMER said 13 of the announced investment projects are expected to generate more than US$833 million in investment and more than 12,000 jobs in the following years.

The geographic distribution of investment also expanded beyond Costa Rica's Greater Metropolitan Area. FDI in free-trade-zone companies located outside the metropolitan area increased by 24.3%, from US$217.4 million in 2024 to US$270.2 million in 2025. PROCOMER identified investment activity in locations including San Carlos, Pérez Zeledón and Golfito.

The United States remained Costa Rica's largest source of FDI in 2025, accounting for 54.8% of total inflows. Switzerland represented 19.7%, followed by Mexico with 4.7% and Colombia with 3.7%. Of the 55 new investment projects attracted by PROCOMER during the year, 29 originated in countries other than the United States.

The broader Greenfield FDI Performance Index also shows differences in the way countries attract foreign investment. In addition to the principal ranking based on projects relative to GDP, the 2026 edition includes rankings for projects and capital expenditure relative to population. The population-based ranking placed the United Arab Emirates first, with 134.6 announced FDI projects per million inhabitants in 2025, followed by Qatar, Singapore and Luxembourg. A separate capital-expenditure ranking measures the value of announced investment commitments relative to GDP, although fDi Intelligence notes that these figures can include estimates and can be affected significantly by individual large-scale projects.

For Costa Rica, the fourth-place position in the 2026 index therefore refers specifically to the country's relative performance in attracting greenfield FDI projects during 2025, while the separate Central Bank figures measure the country's total FDI inflows across different forms of foreign investment.