Panama’s GDP exceeds pre-pandemic level

2022 closed with a gross domestic product (GDP) higher than that of 2019.

Seen in global terms, the recovery process after the economic collapse of 2020 is complete but the construction, tourism, and manufacturing industries,  lag behind, the first two being the sectors that suffered the most during the pandemic.

The economist Luis Alberto Morán stated that the low levels of investment explain the results of the construction, with a public budget in which current spending has more weight.

In the case of tourism, Morán referred to the scarcity of policies to promote local tourism and the country’s brand internationally.

The president of the Industrial Union of Panama, Luis Frauca, also pointed to the need for the administration of Laurentino Cortizo to make payments to suppliers in a timely manner and to streamline bureaucratic procedures to boost private investment.

At the end of 2022 and after real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 10.8%, the size of the economy exceeded for the first time the level that existed in 2019, that is, in the last year prior to the pandemic.

Measured at buyer’s prices, the Panamanian GDP in 2022 was $76,522.5 million, far exceeding the $67,406.7 million of the previous year and the $69,721 million of the GDP of 2019.