Panama Comptroller Announces that Government Vehicle Purchases will be Halted.

Panama: The Comptroller General of the Republic, Anel Flores, announced this Monday, September 7, that he will order the cancellation of purchases of new vehicles for the State.  During his appearance before the Budget Committee of the National Assembly, Flores indicated that he signed a note to suspend these acquisitions and that the document will be sent to the Minister of Economy and Finance, Felipe Chapman. 

“What we’ve decided, including with Minister Chapman, is to pause. Let’s see what we’re going to do because we have to make a decision that I believe will ultimately benefit everyone here and all Panamanians, since it’s really their resources that are being invested,” he said.

The announcement came during the presentation of the recommended budget for the Comptroller’s Office in 2027, set at $145 million for operations and investments.  Regarding whether the Comptroller’s Office had an economic analysis of how much it costs the State annually to rent vehicles versus buying and maintaining them, the official indicated that “We are currently running that calculation, but what we have decided, including with Minister Chapman, is to pause. Let’s see what we are going to do because we have to make a decision that I believe will ultimately benefit everyone here and all Panamanians, since these are really their resources that are being invested.” 

He explained that it is necessary to “categorize, to look at the different ranges, that is, the levels of cars that are really required, and that will be a study that will take some time. The financial projection can be done much more easily because you simply compare it to buying versus leasing; it’s very easy to do the projection.” He also announced that they will review the number and use of existing vehicles. “What comes next is really identifying the actual need because there are already vehicles. I mean, the State has tens of thousands of vehicles. So, the idea is to see what the priority of those vehicles is, what their use is.”  He added that “What we need to do now is really delve into each entity to see how many vehicles it has and how many it actually uses. Because it’s not a very easy study to do.”

Audits.

“So far this year, when we took over the institution, we received 1,091 pending audit requests, of which we have already processed approximately 600; we still have 476 left to complete. That is what comes from the previous five-year period.  Regarding the applications received during his administration, he stated that “In the year 2025-2026, we received a total of 841 applications and we have delivered 601 to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”  The comptroller also compared the work done with the previous period. “In the previous five-year period, 53 audits were carried out. In the entire period.”

“The present value of renting is much lower than that of buying. I can certainly confirm that because I’ve done it myself in my private company,” the comptroller explained.