Panama flying on one engine needs more inclusion

PANAMA is like a plane flying on one engine and needs greater inclusion of the population in the generation of wealth says Juan Planells director of the National Competitiveness Center (CNC).

Despite its spectacular growth in the last decade, it, “does not compete in assets with any of its Central American neighbors” he told journalists at a recent briefing.

“If we contribute to the activation of the rest of the economy (…) we will have a future of greater well-being,” said Planells, who stressed that public policies “have to try to include sectors that have been marginalized. “and urged small and medium enterprises to” join together  “to demand those public policies “

The director of the CNC, which has public and private support, acknowledged that in Panama there has been “a lot of concentration” on the efforts around the interoceanic canal “and this has conditioned the economic development of the logistic services sector

“But we cannot neglect the rest of the sectors that have to be integrated so that this other engine that is running at half throttle contributes to the plane taking off, ” he said.

In Panama “regionalization is being emphasized” so that competitiveness can be supported based on the geographic proximity of the actors, “and that will undoubtedly have a direct impact on the populations of the interior that need it so much”.

He said that more ports and communication channels are needed “outside the Panama Colón axis”, the area around the Canal, but linked to them for the “benefit of all”.

Planells pointed out that in the service sector “Panama is a leader in the region, but in the goods sector we are still far from comparing ourselves to any of the Central American countries.”

“We have to work hard on policies that facilitate export procedures, reduce all obstacles and if we do, we would achieve leadership, which should  be our goal in Central America.”

He said that “it remains an aspiration” to lighten the tax burden on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a sector that represents more than 90 percent of the country’s companies but “is subject to the same rules of the big companies “and that is ” the serious problem of the SME,” he said.

SMEs and informal workers require “temporary support” to improve their condition so that they can integrate into the formal economy.  Planells is concerned about the opportunities that young people require, a sector in which “unemployment is in double digits”, while the national average is 6 percent, because, like women, they are “forgotten areas and that is why we have these inequities. “

Following the establishment of full relations with China in 2017, he sees great hope for microenterprise ” a sector that activates and contributes through employment and the distribution of wealth, to create a solid base for greater well-being and stability”.

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