Panama

  • Area: 75,517 square kilometres
  • Currency: Balboa made up of 100 centésimos $1 = 1 balboa (fixed)
  • Official language: Spanish
  • Population: 3,322.576 million
  • Head of State or Government: Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal (Presidente) 2010
  • GDP: $19,374.3 million
  • GDP per capita: 5,615 million
  • GDP growth: 2.4%
  • Inflation: 2.5%

About Panama

The Republic of Panama is situated at the southern end of the isthmus joining the Americas. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west and Colombia to the east, with the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific to the south. The capital is Panama City. Panama is an important international financial centre, of which the services sector employs 62 per cent of the work force and contributes 80 per cent of the GDP, and includes important activities such as: the Panama Canal, the Free Zone in Colón, the International Banking Centre, the transisthmian railway, tourism, trade, telecommunications and port and multifunctional logistical activities.

On the other hand, the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector employs approximately a fifth of the work force and contributes 9 per cent of the GDP, characterized by the export of important goods such as bananas, seafood, melons, watermelons and pineapples. The industry accounts for 11 per cent of both employment and the GDP, highlighting the production of meat products, cement, alcoholic beverages, chemical, plastic and paper products, and the generation of electric energy.