(Prensa Latina)Panama will close 2011 with a growth in the Gross Domestic Product of over 10 percent, as announced by Panamanian Economy and Finance Minister Frank de Lima in a meeting with foreign reporters.
De Lima said this growth, well above the seven-percent expected, is due to the mega-projects developed by the government, the work developed by the Free Trade Zone in Colon, the work in local ports and the performance of the Panama Canal, among other reasons, including the arrival of more tourists.
He also highlighted the positive results of a strong financial center.
De Lima showed confidence that 2012 will also be positive, with an estimated growth of seven percent, a growth in internal demand, public investment, infrastructural works to extend the Canal, and direct investments exceeding three billion dollars, reduction of the inflation and an expected stability of oil prices.
Other sectors, such as tourism, trade, logistics, telecommunications, ports, construction and others, have also grown. The fiscal deficit will be reduced despite an extraordinary subsidy of 176 million dollars to the energy sector.
) The current crisis should not affect Panama, since its main trade partners are in Asia and Latin America, but it could affect US dollar fluctuation, which does not allow Panama to have its own monetary policy.
De Lima said experts do not consider the European economic crisis will have a great impact on the national financial sector.
However, he admitted that one of the great weaknesses of the local government is the unbalanced redistribution of incomes, and confirmed that if trade unions and management fail to reach an agreement on a fixed minimum salary, the government will have to do it.