Economics on Wednesday

  With the pandemic, many passions have been unleashed in different countries (yes, in all countries, contrary to what we Panamanians think, that only bad things happen here) especially about the role of banks in a pandemic, on the one hand, or how to repay the debts to the banks if we have not been able to work for several months. These are valid questions, especially for the bulk of the population, especially those with bank debts of any kind, which must be paid monthly. First, let's put Panama's Economy in context. Panama does not have a Central Bank. We do not issue currency; much less can we establish monetary policy. The National Bank of Panama (Banco Nacional de Panama) has some functions of a Central Bank, such as the transit of the checks of the local banking system for their compensation, collects mutilated bills, and exchanges them for new bills, among the most important. Its other main mission is to bring commercial banking services to the most remote parts of t...

  The month of September has turned out to be a month of returning to economic life. We can now go outside, with an 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and all day on Sunday curfew and without distinction of sex which can result in more movement of the economy. You notice more movement than there was previously, but not everything has opened yet, so an impact cannot be measured - yet (still, we have to wait for economic figures to be published by Government). In any case, if there is movement, it could be converted into employment, wealth, and in the end, it can give us an interesting end of the year. But I would like to speak to entrepreneurs who are in serious trouble. Those that the pandemic knocked down, but who feel they can still revive. Those who do not want to give up. Those who do not want to lose years of working on a project. Let's see the problems that we can find: Cash Flow: This will be the main problem that the pandemic leaves us. Recovering from this is not easy. Especially if ...

One of the main engines of our economy, and even of any economy in the world, is financial intermediation, led by the banking sector. In Panama, since 1970, with the promulgation of new banking law, the system was modernized and Panama became a regional banking center, where the best banks in the world could be installed, even though we had a totalitarian regime established by the military coup. 1968 (a total incongruity). In fact, with the worst of all, Noriega, the system accepted two banks that belonged to the drug cartels of the time, under the approval of the officials on duty and the boss of the "A" Avenue garrison. Even so, all the banks stayed in the banking system, and nobody said anything about Panama. For those with a short memory, many (if not the vast majority) of the documents that were "discovered" with the theft of what was later misnamed the "Panama Papers" belonged to this black era (not even opaque ) from Panama. Even so, the banking...

With the latest report from Moody’s that it will maintain the country's debt rating at Baa1 and with a stable outlook, and even though they estimate that the economy will contract to 10% at the end of 2020, Panama continues to receive excellent news from international markets and institutions regarding the future of our economy, much despite the country's normal naysayers, who think more political than based on real economics figures and facts on the country. An economy is built on trust. Not everything is perfect in the country, that there is corruption, and that there are people who think they are above the law. Is there something new with this? If you open a newspaper from 1900 to 1990 and beyond (or even before the 1900s), you will find similar news. The only difference is that now we know it faster, and even almost instantly, and the other thing is that we now receive more “fake news” than before (so we have to decide what is fake and what is not), and that we can all be...