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Many local practitioners reported a business-as-usual climate despite it being an election year in Nicaragua. "All the people know he will win the elections," says one attorney about current President Daniel Ortega's re-election bid....

Many local practitioners reported a business-as-usual climate despite it being an election year in Nicaragua. "All the people know he will win the elections," says one attorney about current President Daniel Ortega's re-election bid. "This is not affecting business. We don't have problems in the market." Some partners reported that business over the year started to grow slightly-a welcome sign for an economy that contracted in 2009 and had tepid growth in 2010.

Ortega's political opponents remain divided for the upcoming election-he won the 2006 election with only 36% of the vote (and also served as president from 1985 to 1990). Without a formidable challenger, the current administration has been able to consolidate power, giving rise to concerns about a lack of transparency in political and judicial institutions. "He owns the Supreme Court and the institution of elections, and has a majority in Congress," says one lawyer.

Related to such concerns was a recent loan to the country by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to fund a platform that enables the government to publish accounting reports faster. According to a press release by the IDB, adoption of the Integrated Administrative and Financial Management System will halve the time it takes the government to produce reports, increasing accessibility and helping to improve the transparency of the country's public expenditures. The system will also allow for monthly reporting rather than quarterly.

Notably, Nicaragua remains one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere and poverty reduction remains a priority for the administration. But unlike Venezuela, a key Nicaraguan ally and a model Ortega has emulated, the country does not benefit from oil revenues. Instead, the country has sought to build its agrarian base through the Hambre Cero (Zero Hunger) initiative. Created in 2007, the program gives families seeds, chickens, and a cow, amongst other staples, with the hopes that they can expand on their own. The goal is to reach 75,000 households by 2012.

The government's socialist policies have yet to rankle the business sector, even though some attorneys explained that customers have sought advice on how best to protect their assets. Instead, the administration has sought to ally with some private interests. "The private companies have an agreement with Ortega," explains one partner. "He has a gentleman's pact. There's no problem in the local market." The World Bank predicts that Nicaragua's GDP growth will be between 2-3% for 2010 and 2011.