Cepal expects the Panamanian economy to grow 5.6%

Cepal expects the Panamanian economy to grow 5.6%

For this year, an upturn in the construction sector is expected, driven by investment projects in public infrastructure.

By: La Estrella de Panama

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reviewed its prospects for economic growth for Panama with an upward trend and ranks it among those that will grow most in the region. By 2019, the Panamanian economy is expected to grow by 5.6%, according to the Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean published by ECLAC. 

According to the analysis, an upturn in the construction sector is expected for this year, driven by the various investment projects in infrastructure, mainly public, including the construction of the fourth bridge over the Panama Canal, the expansion of the Panama-Panama highway. Arraiján, the extension of Line 2 of the subway to Tocumen and the start-up of the copper mine located in Colón, which, in full operation, is estimated, will be able to produce more than 320,000 tons of copper per year.

ECONOMIC PROJECTIONS 2019 FOR THE REGION

In the projections for 2019, downside risks prevail. For this year 2019, in addition to Panama (5.6%), the Dominican Republic (5.7%), Peru (3.6%), Colombia (3.3%), Guatemala (3.0%), Costa Rica (2.9%), Mexico are also expected to grow. (2.1%), and Honduras (3.6%), although to a lesser extent than the 2018 projections. Brazil will also grow (2.0%), Honduras (3.6%), Chile (3.3%) and Paraguay's will remain ( 4.2%) to mention a few countries in the region. On the contrary, the economy of Argentina (-1.8%), Nicaragua (-2.0%) and Venezuela (-10.0%) is expected to lose dynamism.

The balance, one of the most important annual reports of the ECLAC, analyzes in its 2018 edition the economic performance of the region during the year, the international context, the macroeconomic policies that the countries have implemented and delivery perspectives for 2019. According to In the analysis, during the first semester of 2018 there was a loss of dynamism in the Panamanian economy, which grew 3.7%, 2.1% less than in the same period of 2017, when it grew 5.8%.

For this period, the sectors that remained dynamic were: transportation, storage and communications (7.3%), due to a 10.3% increase in Panama Canal operations and an increase of 15.9% associated with passenger traffic; the fishing sector (15.2%), thanks to a significant increase in shrimp exports and trade (3.9%), mainly due to an increase in wholesale trade (5.1%); and the activities of the Colon Free Zone (4.9%).

On the contrary, the construction sector grew only 2.0% (8.2% in the same period of the previous year) due to the general strike of workers in the second quarter. As a result of the above, the growth of the mining and quarrying sector was also significantly reduced (2.0% compared to 8.1% in the first half of the previous year).

As in the previous year, the inter-annual variation of the CPI to October 2018 remained low and stood at 0.8%. The sectors with the highest price increases were education (3.7%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (1.3%).

For their part, the sectors that registered a fall were clothing and footwear (-0.9%), communications (-0.8%) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.9%). Finally, the national unemployment rate to March 2018 was 5.8% compared to 5.6% on the same date of the previous year, while the open unemployment rate remained at 4.6%.

According to ECLAC, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean face a complex global economic scenario in the coming years, in which a reduction in the dynamics of growth is expected, both in developed countries and emerging economies, accompanied by an increase in the volatility of the international financial markets. Added to this is the structural weakening of international trade, aggravated by trade tensions between the United States and China. It is expected that both developed and emerging countries will lose dynamism.

Culture and talent in World Music Panama

Culture and talent in World Music Panama 

On February 21, the concert season organized by Oscar Producciones begins. The events will be held in the Athenaeum, City of Knowledge.

"Music is something so pure that no matter what your mood or your way of thinking, it transports you to an oasis, a place where you can feel safe, protected by a divinity," says Hernán Romero, virtuoso international guitarist , composer and producer. The benefits of music do not only apply to the emotional state; is considered among the elements that cause more pleasure in life. It releases dopamine, a hormone linked to happiness. 

Aware of the advantages of listening to good melody, the musical promoter Oscar Producciones presents World Music Panamá, 2019, a series of concerts that aims to raise awareness of renowned musical exponents, who from their cultural roots, work and artistic talent, they contribute to the development and evolution of music. Dúo Finlandia, a fusion of South American rhythms and sounds, folk and electronic music, is in charge of raising the curtain on the musical cycle on February 21. 

The Argentines Mauricio Candussi and Raphael Evangelista also flirt with jazz, playing the accordion, the cello and the keyboard, without forgetting the traditional tangos. DuOud, formed by Smadj and Mehdi Haddab, is the second group that will take the stage. The particularity of this duo is to combat the tradition of the laud, an Arabic instrument that has existed for centuries in the Middle East and in the countries of North Africa, with a very modern electronic treatment. 

Lito Vitale and Juan C. Baglietto will delight the Panamanian public in the third concert of the World Music Panama series. Both musicians are linked to Argentine popular music. They began their stories associated with the Argentine rock movement of the early 70s. They recorded together and were crowned with the album Postales de este lado del mundo.

Lito Vitale is a talented pianist, composer and musical director, while Juan C. Baglietto is a renowned Argentine musician and singer. He devoted himself in the field of rock thanks to his classic album of 1982, Difficult Times.

Making Movies is a group made up of two Panamanian brothers Enrique and Diego Chi, who grew up in Kansas City and brothers Juan Carlos and Andrés Chaurand from Mexico. They fuse rock with Latin genres such as cumbia, psychedelia, Cuban and the spoken word. The musical group is in charge of the fourth concert.

Adrián Iaies, Argentine pianist and composer nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards on three occasions, joins Diana Arias and Facundo Guevara in Adrian Iaies & Colegiales Trío to showcase Argentine popular music without limits in the musical evening.

Abate Berihum, saxophonist, vocalist and composer of Ethiopian-Israeli jazz, will be present at the penultimate concert organized by Oscar Producciones. The prolific artist is one of the most outstanding Ethiopian musicians in Israel.

World Music Panama 2019 will culminate with the presentation of Slixs Sexteto Vocal, a group that revolutionizes the acoustic customs of the a cappella genre.

By La Estrella de Panama. Lito Vitale y Juan C. Baclietto

Panama's economy will grow 6% in 2019, Varela

Panama's economy will grow 6% in 2019, Varela

According to the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Eyda Varela de Chinchilla, Panama grew 4% in 2018. A figure that could be exceeded this year

By Panama America

This year, the Panamanian economy is set to grow by approximately 6%, according to the head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Eyda Varela de Chinchilla, during an exhibition at a forum organized by Capital FinanPanama's economy will grow 6% in 2019, Varelaciero, where she analyzed the behavior of 2018 and its projection for 2019.

According to Varela de Chinchilla, depending on international organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Panama would grow in a range of 6.3%, 6% and 5.6%, respectively.

During 2018, the world in general grew 3%; while Panama was limited by 4.1%. 'This year (2019) only China is the country that grows above Panama, but when compared with the United States and the rest of the world, we will double, and compared to Latin America, we will grow about three times more,' he said. the representative of the MEF.

Varela de Chinchilla said that this growth will be based on copper production in Donoso, province of Colon, which would begin this year, without detailing the month; the expansion of the Tocumen International Airport, which will add twenty doors to its inventory; the impact of the World Youth Day, the beginning of the construction of the fourth bridge over the Canal, the third line of the Metro, the extension of the lanes to the interior of the country, the banana production in Barú by Banapiña, a subsidiary of Del Monte, which in 2018 began sowing the first 650 hectares.

For his part, economist Alan Corbett estimates that GDP growth should be between 6% and 7% for a small economy like the local one, with peaks no greater than 9%, at best, and no less than 5%. %, in the worst of scenarios.

The previous thing, says the economist, allows that the private company and the investment sustain of constant form the growth of the use, with a relatively controlled inflation of 3% to 4%. "Everything that is above or below those ranges generates imbalance," he said.

Corbett exemplified that as there are no savings and there is a lot of inflation, it is possible to decelerate growth a little to reduce inflation.