Panama Economy Slowing Down
PANAMA - The Panamanian economy is currently
reflecting the symptoms of a serious slowing
down, with just an 1.1-percent growth in its
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the
third quarter of 2009.
The Republic's Coptroller's Office
Statistics confirmed the negative effects of
the international crisis, with a positive
2.1-percent variation accumulated in the
GDP, from January to September.
The results contrast with the behavior of
previous fiscal years, because the expansion
was an average 7.5 percent annually and even
in 2007, it reached a solid 12.1 percent.
However, there was a slight 3-percent
progress in the first quarter of 2009 and a
2.2-percent fall in the second quarter.
With those signs, the experts considered
that it would be difficult to meet the
official prediction for the current fiscal
year of achieving a 3-percent recovery of
the GDP.
The reports also showed that trade in the
Colon Free Zone reflected in the current
quarter a 13.5-percent decrease, especially
affected by the lesser progress in
re-exporting products to the South American
and Caribbean markets.
In the first nine months of 2009, that
sector's growth decreased eight percent.
The Panama Canal operations fell 17 percent
in relation to the same period in the
previous year, due to a 4.8-percent decrease
in the net tons transferred and the services
to ships (31.8 percent).
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