Although as I wrote in an earlier post, consumer confidence is still high, this is apparently not the case for those involved in Panama's banking sector. On the face of it a emergency stimulus plan sounds like a good idea, a $1.1 billion dollar "first phase" stimulus plan is only put in place when things aren't going so well.
Excerpts: from Latin Herald Tribune:
President Martin Torrijos presented a $1.11 billion stimulus program intended to insulate Panama's economy from the worst effects of the global downturn.
Torrijos insisted the stimulus plan was not "a program of subsidies or financial bailout" but an initiative to "ensure stability and growth with the aim of maintaining the employment and economic activity achieved in recent years."
He also stressed that the stimulus package would not increase public debt.
The $1.11 billion for what Torrijos called the first phase of the program is to come from state-owned Banco Nacional de Panama, the Andean Development Corporation and the Inter-American Development Bank.
"Panama is better prepared than at any other time in his history to face a situation of this nature: ample and growing reserves in the BNP; liquidity levels in the banking system beyond what is required by law; a budget surplus for the last three years; public and private investment projects that will implemented in the coming months, including the canal expansion, and greater income for Panamanian consumers," Torrijos said.
He acknowledged, however, that the Central American nation could not completely escape the effects of the world recession. EFE
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