{"id":2859,"date":"2011-07-15T14:59:59","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T19:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=2859"},"modified":"2011-07-15T14:59:59","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T19:59:59","slug":"a-singapore-for-central-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/a-singapore-for-central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"A Singapore for Central America?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A recent article in The Economist continues the discussion about the challenges Latin America faces in this era of explosive growth.\u00a0 Panama is front stage in this article about how it has has achieved success in many areas but has fallen short in many more.\u00a0 While skyscrapers line the horizon in Panama City and the Panama Canal undergoes a $5.6 billion makeover, corruption in many levels of the government, crime in the City, poverty in the indigenous areas and a failed educational system where “Panama\u2019s spending has not yielded good results. The PISA study, a test of 15-year-olds, places Panama 63rd out of 65 economies, behind the likes of Albania.”\u00a0 Not very flattering and hopefully President Martinelli is reading this article also.\u00a0 He can make the corrections if he stays the course.\u00a0 We have so much to look forward to here in Panama over the next ten years and as a Panamanian citizen, I too want to be proud of all of our achievements especially when we correct those deficiencies!!<\/p>\n

Here is the article from the Economist.<\/p>\n

ON A humid stretch of Pacific coast in one of the poorest parts of the Americas, somebody seems to have misplaced a chunk of Manhattan. The 50-storey skyscrapers of Panama City jut out of the jungle like nowhere else in low-rise Central America. Panama\u2019s smart banks, open economy and long queues of boats at its ports have caused many to compare it to Singapore, another steamy success story. Panama\u2019s president, Ricardo Martinelli, made his country\u2019s first state visit there in 2010 and later said, \u201cWe copy a lot from Singapore and we need to copy more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panama is not even one-fifth as rich as its Asian model on a per-person basis. But Singapore would envy its growth: from 2005 to 2010 its economy expanded by more than 8% a year, the fastest rate in the Americas. The IMF expects it to grow by over 6% a year during the next five years. Panama will soon overtake Costa Rica and Venezuela in GDP per head. Accounting for purchasing power, it is one of the five richest countries in mainland Latin America.<\/p>\n

An 80km (50-mile) channel of water has played a big part. In 2010 the Panama Canal\u2019s revenues were $2 billion (7.5% of GDP). This year they are up by a quarter, thanks to more traffic and higher tolls. The canal and Panama\u2019s business-friendly regulations have spawned big insurance, finance and legal industries and endowed Panama with the world\u2019s biggest merchant navy, at least on paper. A free-trade zone in Col\u00f3n, at the canal\u2019s Atlantic end, has lured the regional bases of firms like Procter & Gamble. Last year Col\u00f3n and Balboa, Panama\u2019s Pacific gateway, became Latin America\u2019s two busiest ports.<\/p>\n

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