(Midario.com) Given the warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a possible overheating of our economy, Diego Ferrer, advisor of Public Credit Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), said that Panama is not immune to these phenomena as any country in the world.
He said we can not escape the excessive rise in the price of oil. He added: “In the energy field we are studying various states, such as reducing the subsidy that goes to the liquefied gas and energy, and other items will offset those savings.”
Ferrer said that investments in infrastructure will be one of the engines of growth of the Panamanian economy in the coming years and create the basis for sustainable development to promote productivity and competitiveness. He added that the spectrum of inflationary pressures exist in Panama and all over the world, and in that context, the MEF continues in a process of fiscal prudence and consolidation that will seek to contain domestic demand to avoid overheating.
Warning
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, recently warned that inflation pressures could become more acute due to the impact of rising world prices of raw materials, low unemployment and the ambitious public investment program being undertaken by the Government .
Figures
Prices paid by consumers rose 0.24% during February, bringing the annual inflation rate estimated by comparing the average prices of 2011 compared to 2010 is put at 3% this year. In 2010, during the same period, inflation was 1.6%, according to a report from the Economic and Social Analysis of MEF. Despite this reality and the IMF warning of an overheating of the increasing investment in infrastructure, they will not stop.