Panama’s competitive pluses and minuses

WHILE Panama shines in 10 indicators of competitiveness considered to be of first world quality, in another 10 it is among the most backward nations.

According to an article in Capital.com in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, the country fails in "Independence of the Judiciary, Female participation in the work force, Costs of crime and violence for companies, Quality of math and science education, Wages and productivity, HIV prevalence, Rate of enrollment in secondary education and inflation, among other things. "

Panama has made significant progress in areas such as quality of primary education and quality of science and math education and ranks 128th in higher education quality, but it is still measuring this progress, there is much to be done in these areas, so that around them the future development of Panama can be based, as it was in all the countries that are now considered first world.

Irene Giménez, partner of Goethals Consulting Corp., said that a good portion of these assessments and weights are based on surveys. "… quality must be measured by external evaluations. one, but not the only, example is PISA tests, from which Panama withdrew. There should also be measurements of how the market responds to local hiring for operational positions, etc.