The Presidency has ordered the withdrawal of the draft law which proposed levying $0.05 per liter of petrol and using it to finance the payment of pensions and retirements.

From a statement issued by the Government of Panama:

The president, Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez instructed the Minister of Health, Francisco Javier Terrientes to withdraw the bill which would have increased pensions for retirees in order to continue discussing it in the Cabinet.

“I appreciate, have heard and respect the opinion of the people, to whom I am in debt for this is an essential part of democracy and strengthening of the management of government,” said Varela Rodríguez.

“I have received a lot of contributions to the debate in these days from retirees, one interesting opinion is to continue recovering pubically owned assets” he said.