The higher costs of everything are forcing the government to increase the money paid to the 175,000 people who receive pensions in the country. At just $60 a month increase it will amount to over $10 million a month that was not in the original budget. The combination of higher commodity prices and U.S. dollar [...]...

The proposed plan to have automatic wage adjustments in response to inflation would spell disaster for foreign investment in the country. When Panama needs investment the most investors will turn to other countries rather than bare the risk of ever increasing labor costs. On a local level, wage increases translate immediately into hire prices for [...]...

The article in La Prensa puts a very positive spin on the fact that Panama has the highest mortgage to GDP ratio of any country in Latin America by a factor of 400%. I certainly agree that making homes available to the population at subsidized interest rates is a viable approach to helping to [...]...

On June 22nd the President announced that they had signed an agreement with Taiwan to extend their free trade agreement. Coincidentally just one week later, Taiwan donates $2.6 million for a new hospital. Sounds like a good deal to me! Panama, Taiwan, ink FTA Panama and Taiwan have agreed to renew the four-year-old free trade agreement between [...]...

An article in La Prensa today quotes port authority excuses for declining numbers in cruise ships. There are a number of reasons for the decline none of which are mentioned in the article but are obvious to any in the industry. You can read a well written piece about the cruise industry difficulties with Panama [...]...