Panama

While the large share of high-value services in Panama’s economy, including finance, telecommunications and logistics, is envious for emerging economies around the world, the small size of its agricultural sector arouses some concern. Despite impressive GDP growth in recent years, including regional records of over 10%, the agriculture sector...

While logistics and transportation haul in major public investment, initiatives in medical infrastructure should not go unnoticed. In 2010 the government launched an ambitious plan to construct five regional hospitals, a medical city within the capital, and a network of smaller health care facilities and ambulatory services. With several...

One of the most commonly voiced concerns by business professionals in Panama City is the lack of a strong qualified workforce to sustain the country’s economic growth. While authorities have attempted to address problems of quality and increase sector investment, many private facilities have focused on developing new tertiary educational...

Panama has a territorial taxation system that levies taxes only on operations that take place or that have effects within the country’s territory. Income tax, in particular, is levied only on income that arises from a Panamanian source, regardless of the nationality or residence of the income recipient.

With a housing deficit of over 136,000 units and growing at around 15% per year, a huge market remains unsatisfied as few developers construct within the low-income segment. Government incentives, almost entirely restricted to assisting the consumer in purchasing a home, have fallen short of providing viable solutions on a large scale and...

As Panama’s agricultural sector is faced with direct competition from modern farms in the US and Europe, it is in need of an upgrade to its storage and transportation infrastructure. To this end, various initiatives have been proposed to bring production and handling in line with international levels. Besides emergency stop-gaps to accelerate...