Foreign investment topped $5 billion last year
DIRECT FOREIGN Investment in Panama climbed 16.9 percent in 2015 to over $5 billion reports the the Comptroller General.
Rogelio Alvarado, director of economic analysis at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said that a great deal of this amount is re-investment, or money brought into the country by entities that already have an existing stake in the country.
“Instead of looking for an investment in another country, investors prefer to stay in business here because they have confidence in the country. In addition, foreign investors are expanding production capacity in the country,” he said.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Panama was the country in the region with greatest amount of foreign investment in relation to the size of its economy reports La Prensa.
According to the UN agency, Panama “is well positioned to continue to receive investments.”
The expansion of the Panama Canal, and the expansion of the maritime industry as a whole, and the promotion of free trade zones are important magnets for investment.
There have also been large sums of foreign capital invested in sectors such as renewable energy and mining.
