February 12, 2025 - Panama continues to solidify its role as a pivotal hub in international trade, leveraging its strategic location and the Panama Canal's critical function in global shipping routes. The canal facilitates approximately 5% of the world's maritime trade, underscoring Panama's significance in global commerce. Read More
December 16, 2024 - El 6 de diciembre de 2024, Panamá formalizó su ingreso como Estado Asociado al Mercosur durante la 65ª Cumbre de Jefes de Estado del bloque en Montevideo, Uruguay. El presidente José Raúl Mulino y el canciller Javier Martínez Acha firmaron los acuerdos correspondientes, convirtiendo a Panamá en el primer país fuera de Sudamérica en obtener esta condición. El Mercosur, integrado por Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay, Uruguay y Bolivia, representa la quinta economía más grande del mundo, con un mercado de 271 millones de habitantes y un PIB conjunto de 4.5 billones de dólares. Como Estado Asociado, Panamá busca fortalecer las relaciones comerciales y económicas, ofreciendo su plataforma logística y financiera, incluyendo el Canal de Panamá, como puente para el comercio entre el Mercosur y otros mercados. Read More
November 19, 2024 - Despite global economic fluctuations, Panama's economy demonstrated resilience with a 7.3% growth in GDP in 2023. Key sectors contributing to this growth include construction, transport and storage, wholesale and retail trade, utilities, business services, and hospitality. This robust economic performance highlights Panama's dynamic business environment and its attractiveness to international investors. Read More
September 30, 2024 - Panama ranks 9th out of 19 countries in the Latin American Artificial Intelligence Index (ILIA), led by Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay. Panama scored 37.45 out of 100 points but was recognized for its strong performance in open-source code development, surpassing countries like Uruguay and Costa Rica. Panama's strengths are in developing new AI applications, particularly in open-source solutions. However, it faces challenges in enabling factors like research, development, and adoption, as well as infrastructure and human talent development. The country scored 49.93 in infrastructure (moderate capacity) and 33.74 in human talent development, indicating significant challenges in training and retaining specialized talent. Read More
March 27, 2024 - According to Panama's Office of the Comptroller General, the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 7.3% in 2023, reaching US$78.8234 billion at constant 2018 prices—an increase of US$5.3741 billion from the previous year. Key sectors contributing to this growth include: Construction: Building permits increased by 36.7%. Manufacturing: Concrete production rose by 17.7%. Wholesale and Retail Trade: Fuel sales grew by 7.3%. Agriculture: Pork production increased by 1.0%, and poultry by 0.7%. Beverage Industry: Alcoholic beverage production went up by 2.4%. Energy Sector: Thermal power generation surged by 95.4%, while hydroelectric generation declined by 23.0%. Transportation: Metro passenger numbers rose by 14.9%, and toll road usage increased by 6.4%. Additionally, financial services, telecommunications, real estate, and business activities contributed significantly to the economic expansion. Read More
February 21, 2023 - The Federal Reserve indicated that more restrictive monetary policy is in the cards amid strong employment gains. In Europe, while inflation has fallen, it is still far above the 2% target. Across the Euro area inflation is estimated to have reached 8.5% in January. At the same time, some countries have managed to tamp down inflation. Slower growth, cheaper import costs, and foreign exchange policy are some of the factors keeping inflation subdued. Panama has the lowest rate in Latin America. The dollarization of the Panamanian balboa has helped quash price pressures. In July, the government regulated the price of 72 items to keep the cost of living from rising. Read More
November 10, 2022 - Panama's ratings are supported by its high per capita income, a track record of strong macroeconomic performance featuring high growth rates, and relatively low inflation, supported by a strategic location and asset (the Panama Canal). This is counterbalanced by a relatively narrow government revenue base, an uneven track record of meeting fiscal consolidation targets, susceptibility to global financial conditions due to reliance on external funding Read More
March 15, 2022 - During 2021, the production of goods and services in the Panamanian economy, measured through GDP, presented an increase of 15.3%, compared to the previous year, according to the Comptroller General of the Republic of Panama. The figure for the Panamanian Internal Product stands at US$40,736.4 million, which corresponded to an increase of US$5,416.6 million. This is a significant recovery after the 17% drop in 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic that hit the Panamanian economy. Among the internal activities that presented a positive performance in this period were: the manufacturing industry, electricity, construction, commercial, real estate and business activities, and other personal services; as well as the production of cattle whose slaughter increased by 7.1%, pigs by 12.9 and poultry by 8.1%. Read More
September 24, 2021 - Panama approved a plan on Wednesday to vaccinate visitors in a bid to boost a tourism industry badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, becoming the first Central American nation to offer vaccine doses to tourists. Many of Panama's neighbours have struggled to vaccinate large numbers of their populations. Latin America has been among the regions worst-hit by the pandemic, both in terms of deaths and in economic damage. Panama initially lagged peers in its vaccination drive, but is now among the regional leaders with 56% of its population fully vaccinated. That’s a higher proportion than the U.S. and Japan, and far higher than most Latin American nations. Unlike most countries in the region, which raced to source shots wherever they could, Panama put most of its eggs in the basket of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine. Read More
May 25, 2021 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) described Panama’s economic “outlook” as “optimistic” and forecasts a 12% growth for 2021, after a 17.9% drop due to the pandemic last year, the Panamanian government informed on Wednesday. Read More
January 20, 2021 - The World Bank has improved economic growth projections for all Central American economies for 2021, with Honduras, El Salvador and Panama having the most promising forecasts. Read More
November 3, 2020 - The Panama Canal is seeing signs of a rebound in global trade as ship transits recover from the depressed levels caused by the pandemic. Total transits through the waterway rose to 933 in July, from 845 in June, which was the fewest since the canal opened an expanded set of locks four years ago to accommodate bigger ships. Read More