Panama Economy - 2004

Economy - overview:
Panama's dollarised economy rests primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for three-fourths of GDP. Services include operating the Panama Canal, banking, the Colon Free Zone, insurance, container ports, flagship registry, and tourism. A slump in Colon Free Zone and agricultural exports, the global slowdown, and the withdrawal of US military forces held back economic growth in 2000-03. The government has been backing public works programs, tax reforms, new regional trade agreements, and development of tourism in order to stimulate growth. Unemployment remains at an unacceptably high level.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $18.62 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
3.2% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,300 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7%
industry: 17%
services: 76% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
37% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.2%
highest 10%: 35.7% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
48.5 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.3% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
1.1 million
note: shortage of skilled labor, but an oversupply of unskilled labor (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 20.8%, industry 18%, services 61.2% (1995 est.)

Unemployment rate:
14.5% (2003 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $1.9 billion
expenditures: $2 billion, including capital expenditures of $471 million (2000 est.)

Industries:
construction, petroleum refining, brewing, cement and other construction materials, sugar milling

Industrial production growth rate:
1% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
4.039 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 37%
hydro: 61.3%
other: 1.7% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
3.681 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
118 million kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
43 million kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
52,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Agriculture - products:
bananas, rice, corn, coffee, sugarcane, vegetables; livestock; shrimp

Exports:
$5.237 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
bananas, shrimp, sugar, coffee, clothing (1999)

Exports - partners:
US 47.8%, Sweden 5.8%, Costa Rica 4.8%, Honduras 4.5% (2002)

Imports:
$6.622 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
capital goods, crude oil, foodstuffs, consumer goods, chemicals (1999)

Imports - partners:
US 34.4%, Colombia 5.9%, Japan 5.4%, Costa Rica 4.2%, Venezuela 4.2% (2002)

Debt - external:
$8.9 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$197.1 million (1995)

Currency:
balboa (PAB); US dollar (USD)

Currency code:
PAB; USD

Exchange rates:
balboas per US dollar - 1 (2003), 1 (2002), 1 (2001), 1 (2000), 1 (1999)