{"id":23497,"date":"2018-07-05T09:48:45","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T14:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=23497"},"modified":"2018-07-05T09:48:45","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T14:48:45","slug":"panama-finally-joined-ranks-high-income-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/panama-finally-joined-ranks-high-income-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama has finally joined the ranks of high-income countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

For the first time ever, Panama has been classified as a high-income nation\u2014a country with a gross national income per capita of $12,055 or more\u2014by the World Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bank, which determines new thresholds for each category every July, also showed that Argentina gained the classification for only the second time since it began grouping countries by income status in 1987.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Croatia, which became a high-income country for the first time in 2007, has regained its high-income ranking, after it fell off the list last year.<\/p>\n

Other countries weren\u2019t so fortunate: the Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, and the Republic of Yemen all fell from the lower-middle income category to the low-income category\u2014the lowest grouping.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country<\/th>\nOld group<\/th>\nNew group<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Argentina<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\nHigh-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Armenia<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Croatia<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\nHigh-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Guatemala<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jordan<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Panama<\/td>\nUpper-middle<\/td>\nHigh-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Syrian Arab Republic<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nLow-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tajikistan<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nLow-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Republic of Yemen<\/td>\nLower-middle<\/td>\nLow-income<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Panama\u2019s economy is mainly based on the services sector, with the Panama Canal, banking-related activities, and the Col\u00f3n Free Trade Zone being big drivers of growth.<\/p>\n

Using the World Bank\u2019s Atlas method,<\/a> which reduces the impact of exchange rate fluctuations when calculating gross national income, Switzerland tops the list of high-income countries\u2014with more than six times the required income to make the classification. Norway, Luxembourg, and Qatar aren\u2019t far behind.<\/p>\n