Panamanian authorities announced that as of September 2020, it will begin to exchange financial information automatically with the South American country.
Negotiations between the two countries began in 2019 and at the technical meetings they agreed on the mechanisms that will be used to automatically double-track the information.
In Panama the government estimates that in 2020 the economy will grow between 4% and 4.5%, a rise that would be determined by the behavior of construction, tourism and exports.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), by the end of 2019 the increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could fluctuate between 3% and 3.5%, while by the present year 2020 it will be between 4% and 4.5%.
Two decades after selling 49% of the shares of the Bayano hydroelectric dam to AES, the Panamanian government is preparing to begin negotiations to buy the shares held by AES.
The authorization for the government to begin negotiations was completed through Cabinet Council Resolution No. 106 of October 28, which endorses the start of the efforts, which aim to draw a roadmap to transfer the hydroelectric Bayano to the State.
The low dynamism in the commercial activity and in the construction, will influence so that in 2019 the growth of the Panamanian economy is of 4.5% and not 5%, which would result in a rise in the fiscal deficit.
The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama (Cciap) expects that by 2019 the country's economy will grow 4.5%, an estimate that is lower than that of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) which forecasts that economic growth will reach 5%.
After in the first semester of 2018 a 13% y-o-y fall in foreign investment flows was reported, the accumulated up to September totaled $4.251 million, 9% more than in the same period of 2017.
According to figures from the General Comptroller of the Republic, Foreign Direct Investment in Panama increased between the first nine months of 2017 and the same period in 2018, going from $3.892 million to $4.251 million.
Partly explained by issuance in international markets between October last year and the same month in 2018, government debt increased from $23.418 million to $25.814 million.
According to the most recent figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama, between the tenth month of 2017 and October of this year, the government has increased the debt by $2.396 million.
The Varela administration's budget for next year includes $4.032 billion for the City of Health and new polyclinics, Metro Lines 2 and 3, and construction of road works, such as the Santiago-David highway.
The budget presented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Panama includes several items for public investment projects, which together amount to just over $4 billion, according to the institution's budget report.
The Ministry of Finance is considering issuing up to $500 million in debt securities in the Chinese securities market, in order to take advantage of the lower borrowing costs offered by the Asian market.
The advantage is that, according to Minister Dulcidio De la Guardia, " ... after changing the money to dollars, it is possible that the country could reduce by a quarter or half a percentage point the rate it would need to pay for a bond in dollars with equivalent maturity."
The Ministry of Economy wants to rent a property where it can integrate the departments that are currently spread out over two buildings.
The ministry's aim is to integrate the offices that are currently located in the Ogawa and PH Republic buildings, located on Via España.The intention is to pay less rent than is currently being paid.
In the third quarter of the year, the fiscal deficit was 2.4% of GDP, with a 6% increase in total expenditures compared to the same period in 2016.
A report presented by the Ministry of Finance of Panama shows that the deficit of the non-financial public sector amounted to $1.43 billion at the end of the third quarter, registering an increase of $585 million.
Revenues generated by the Panamanian State this year from its shares in companies such as Cable & Wireless, Gas Natural Fenosa and AES Panama, among others are estimated at $113 million.
The projection for the end of this year is slightly lower than the figure for 2016, when the contributions from joint ventures to the coffers of the Panamanian State was $118.5 million.
The government is negotiating four loans totaling $245 million for social investment projects with three multilateral lenders.
In the Quarterly Report: Situation, evolution and risk of public financing in Panama", four loans with three entities are under negotiation: $50 million with the European Investment Bank, $70 million with the CABEI, and another two for $125 million with the Andean Development Corporation.
The balance of public debt as of September 30 reached $21 billion, while current state revenues cover 10 times its obligations for interest and fees.
Despite the increase recorded in the total public debt in recent years, growth of gross domestic product has reduced the debt / GDP ratio from 66% in 2005 to 38% in 2015.
Prensa.com reports that "...The balance of government debt up to September 30 stood at $21 billion 589.6 million, representing a decrease of $78.2 million compared to the previous month but an increase of $1,623.4 million compared to the existing balance a year earlier."
The Ministry of Economy and Finance in Panama is putting out to tender the services of issue and minting of coins in current circulation in various denominations.
Panama Government Purchase 2016-0-16-0-08-LP-011947:
"This aim of this project is to hire a company to provide the services of issuing and minting coins that are in current circulation in various denominations, for a nominal value of up to 37.2 million dollars during the period 2016-2019.
A proposal has been made in Panama to make public all sanctions to be imposed on entities that violate the law on prevention of money laundering.
The proposal put forward by the National Committee Against Money Laundering, and Financing of Terrorism and the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CNBC), created in 2015 within the framework of the new law on prevention of money laundering, aims to "...