{"id":16554,"date":"2016-05-10T13:20:50","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=16554"},"modified":"2016-05-10T13:20:50","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T18:20:50","slug":"the-panama-papers-heres-the-real-panama-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/the-panama-papers-heres-the-real-panama-story\/","title":{"rendered":"The Panama Papers? Here’s The Real Panama Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PANAMA83\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a great story in Forbes written by Steve Forbes on his perspective on Panama which cuts through all the hoopla that has dominated the press recently.<\/p>\n

SAY \u201cPANAMA\u201d<\/b> these days and the word \u201cpapers\u201d quickly comes to mind. Too bad. I recently visited this small Central American country and saw firsthand what is largely unknown: Panama is a huge economic success story, enjoying an average annual growth rate that\u2019s about the best in the world in the 21st century. Things have \u201cslowed\u201d recently: Growth last year was a tad below 6% but is expected to be a bit above 6% this year. Unlike the numbers coming out of China these days, which are ostensibly slightly higher, Panama\u2019s are the real deal. Its growth is still light-years ahead of that in most of the world\u2019s countries.<\/p>\n

Contrary to global headlines, Panama is no sleazy money-laundering backwater. Quite the opposite. Panama City is becoming the financial center of Latin America, with scores of global and Latin-American financial institutions having a sizable presence there. The country has made considerable progress in transparency. The multigovernment Financial Action Task Force on money laundering removed Panama from its gray list this year. In 2012 it was taken off the OECD\u2019s blacklist of tax havens. Panama is implementing other reforms, such as doing away with anonymous shareholder certificates, and expects to be in compliance with OECD transparency standards by 2018.<\/p>\n

Investors think Panama\u2019s prospects are bright. The government recently floated a $1.2 billion bond issue, which was quickly oversubscribed. Government debt to GDP is only 40%; in the U.S. it\u2019s over 100%.<\/p>\n

In terms of moving freight, Panama has made itself the economic crossroads of the Americas. It has handled control of the canal well since it took over in 1999. The number of containers moving through this historic byway in 1993 was 267,000. Today there are well over 6 million, and with the opening of a third set of locks in June, which will enable the canal to handle today\u2019s megaships, that number should surge to well over 12 million. The massive infrastructure attendant upon this growth in traffic has obviously been a boon to the country. The government wisely didn\u2019t treat the canal as a short-term political piggy bank the way most countries have done with, say, their state-owned oil companies. Considerable sums have been reinvested in the canal. The resultant growing volume of trade has meant that government revenues from the canal have also grown nicely.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Almost a decade ago Panama enacted what is called Law 41, which offered considerable incentives to any major company making Panama its regional headquarters for Latin America. More than 100 multinationals, such as Procter & Gamble, have done so. Among the enticements is that their employees pay no Panamanian income taxes. As with the canal, the creation of these headquarters has generated supporting infrastructure, including schools.<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s expanding airport has also became a crucial regional hub; 68% of the passengers landing there are passing through to other destinations.<\/p>\n

With the exception of New York and Chicago, Panama City has more skyscrapers these days than any other city in the Western Hemisphere, and 16 of Latin America\u2019s 25 tallest buildings are in Panama City. This is amazing when you consider such megametropolises as S\u00e3o Paulo, Mexico City and Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a great story in Forbes written by Steve Forbes on his perspective on Panama which cuts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-articles-panama-perpsective"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Panama Papers? Here's The Real Panama Story - Blog and Newsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/the-panama-papers-heres-the-real-panama-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Panama Papers? 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