The Panamanian economy will maintain strong but slightly slower growth between 2017 to 2020 - close to 6%.
Such news came from Moody’s annual report on the Republic of Panama.
International organizations such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) estimate that the Panamanian economy will have a performance of 5.6% in 2017; 5.8% and 5.7%, respectively. These forecasts place Panama as the most dynamic economy in Latin America in the next few years, as the IMF forecasts a GDP growth of 6.0% in 2021.
As the supporting facts for Moody’s estimations, there is the expanded Canal that allows the passage for larger vessels (neo-panamax), such as those transporting liquefied gas from the U.S. to Asia.
They also support the optimistic view of the Panamanian economy, investments in road infrastructure, such as Line 2 and 3 of the Panama Metro, and the opening of the Panama Copper mine scheduled for 2018 that will expand the country's GDP by 2% .
The Moody's report states that the Baa2 rating given to Panama is the result of the country's good economic performance (averaging 7.6% in the last decade) and the macroeconomic stability it has. Despite the high degree of economic openness and heavy dependence on foreign financing, the country continues In contrast to the trends of the world economy.
