Business in Free Zone spiraling down

BUSINESS at the world’s second biggest free trade zone,  the ZLT Colón, continues to plummet with  a 15% drop so far this year following on from  a 12% drop in 2014.

The blame is variously put on   tax measures adopted by Colombia and Ecuador and the devaluation of the currencies of Venezuela and Brazil.

However, the Association of Users (AU) claims that the slowdown is due to changes in supply chains in which retailers are purchasing items directly from suppliers, especially in China.

“There was a time when people were lined up here, and now it’s just me,” a security guard who has worked at the zone for 29 years told La Prensa which reports shops occupied only by sales people looking at their cell phones or talking among themselves. There are vacant stores with “for rent” signs.

Several meetings have been held with business owners asking the government to reduce their tax burden, something that has been rejected so far by President Juan Carlos Varela.

According to figures from the Comptroller, the value of re-exports in 2014, was just under $13 billion, 12 percent less than in 2013.