# panama foundation



## smithjohn01

Panama is booming. Since President, Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal, came to office in 2009, this strategically located nation, separating Pacific from Atlantic as it stretches across Central America, has posted 8% average annual GDP growth. Last year, rather than double-dip, it hit double-digits, registering a 10.6%. Mature, diversified, and service-based – trade and logistics, banking and finance, real estate and construction, and tourism account for 75% of its $30 billion GDP – Panama’s dollar-based economy is mid-way through the Martinelli administration’s ambitious, all-inclusive ‘Strategic Government Plan 2010-2014’. “The plan consists of strengthening every economic sector,” explains Frank George de Lima Gercich, Panama’s Minister of Economy and Finance, “with $15 billion investment over five years, double the amount of public-sector spending in the country over the last 20 years.”

The goal is to ready the nation for the challenges rapid growth brings, putting in place infrastructure and public development to support private-sector growth. With the world’s second-largest free-trade zone, free-trade agreements in force (including with the US since last October) and in the pipeline, and numerous investment incentives on offer, Panama has attracted multinationals, like 3M, Caterpillar, Dell, and HP. Financially, Panama’s books could not be cleaner, as it was removed from the OECD’s tax- haven gray-list in June 2011. The $5.3 billion Panama Canal expansion is on course for completion by 2014, doubling capacity to serve US and Chinese clients. And the capital, Panama City, is on track to rank among Latin America’s most modern metropolises, with a new subway, Metrobus transportation, and roads to alleviate traffic. 
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