(Panama Digest) Panama has done so well in the last 20 years that the U.S. Agency for International Development will begin to gradually withdraw its programs from the successful Central American country.
A U.S. Embassy document notes that Panama’s progress in recent years should make Panamanians proud, La Critica Reports. Since 1990, GDP has nearly quintupled, from $5.3 billion to the $27.2 billion estimated for 2010.
Panama has become an important center of global transportation, has earned an investment grade rating, has developed a highly sophisticated services industry and has successfully managed the Panama Canal, quadrupling profits and setting an ambitious plan for Canal expansion in motion, the report emphasizes.
U.S. Ambassador to Panama Phyllis Powers said that despite the gradual withdrawal, “the United States remains committed to working together, as partners, to achieve the goal of a more stable, secure, prosperous and democratic Panama – and would try to remain Panama’s preferred partner. ”
The U.S. assistance program to Panama started in 1940 with technical assistance in establishing a rubber plantation. Over the next 65 years, U.S. aid programs contributed $1.2 billion in bilateral aid.