According to Carlos Barsallo, president of the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International, more than 56 percent of the population believes that corruption has increased, a figure that exceeds the 2017 poll, carried out as part of the Global Corruption Barometer study on Latin America and the Caribbean.

The so-called bribery rate, meanwhile, stood at 18 percent compared to 38 percent in 2017, a difference which, according to Sergio Garcia, a researcher at the International Center of Political and Social Studies, responds ‘to people’s fear that this will be used against them.’

The survey also revealed that Panamanians have a high tolerance for bribery, with 90 percent of respondents saying that paying a bribe to a police officer on the street to avoid a fine is acceptable.

However, 80 percent said that ‘ordinary people’ can help in the fight to abolish this phenomenon, while 79 percent considered that the government does not act as it should, and a high percentage expressed mistrust of the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches.

A recent study by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) revealed that the perception of corruption in the region is slightly higher than in the rest of the world, due to the high-profile cases of recent years, such as that of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.