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2. Macro and country context: Panama

Macro and country context for investors in Panama: a dollarized, services led economy built around the Canal, logistics, banking and the Colón Free Zone, with the latest official INEC figures on growth, prices, population, jobs and the balance of payments; the constitutional rules on lawmaking and the annual balanced budget; the fiscal rule of Ley 34 de 2008 as rewritten by Ley 445 de 2024, which caps the deficit on a path to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2030 and anchors net debt at 50 percent; and the Canal's constitutional regime and payments to the Treasury. Panama has no tax treaty with Argentina; for the Argentine side of trade, FX or tax treaty questions see The Argentine Thread guide.

Investor view. Full dollarization, a legislated deficit path back toward 1.5 percent of GDP and a profitable, constitutionally protected Canal give Panama one of the region's steadiest platforms for long term growth capital.

• Panama economy at a glance: growth, prices, banking, ratings and the lists that matterPanama is a dollarized, services led economy of about US$90.5 billion (2025 nominal GDP, INEC), built on the Canal, logistics, banking, commerce and the Colón Free Zone. Real GDP grew 4.4 percent in 2
• How Panama's political system and lawmaking work for investorsPanama is a unitary, presidential republic with three branches that act separately but in harmonious collaboration. A President elected for five years, with no reelection for the next two terms, leads
• Panama population, regions and labor market: where people live and workINEC projects 4,645,375 residents on 1 July 2026, based on the 2023 census. More than half live in Panamá and Panamá Oeste provinces, around the Canal and the capital, and 69.7 percent live in urban a
• Panama public finances: the fiscal rule, the budget, public debt and credit ratingsThe fiscal rule caps the deficit of the non financial public sector (SPNF) on a falling path: 4.0 percent of GDP in 2025, 3.5 percent in 2026, 3.0 percent in 2027, down to 1.5 percent from 2030. It al
• Panama external sector: services surplus, goods deficit, FDI, the Colón Free Zone and remittancesPanama earns its foreign exchange mainly from services: Canal, ports, air transport, tourism and finance. Those services offset a large goods deficit. In 2025 the current account showed a deficit of B
• The Panama Canal and the economy: legal regime, results and payments to the TreasuryThe Constitution makes the Canal an inalienable national asset run by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), an autonomous public entity with its own budget outside the State budget. The ACP pays the Treas

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