Economy - overview:
Panama's economy is based 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
2000-02. The government has been backing public works programs, tax
reforms, new regional trade agreements, and development of tourism
in order to stimulate growth.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $18.06 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
0.7% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $6,200 (2002 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):
1.1% (2001 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:
16% (2002 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:
0.5% (2002 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 (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Agriculture - products:
bananas, rice, corn, coffee, sugarcane, vegetables; livestock;
shrimp
Exports:
$5.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
bananas, shrimp, sugar, coffee, clothing (1999)
Exports - partners:
US 47.8%, Sweden 5.8%, Costa Rica 4.8%, Honduras 4.4% (2002)
Imports:
$6.7 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
capital goods, crude oil, foodstuffs, consumer goods, chemicals
(1999)
Imports - partners:
US 34.3%, Colombia 5.9%, Japan 5.4%, Costa Rica 4.2%, Venezuela
4.2% (2002)
Debt - external:
$7 billion (2002 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 (2002), 1 (2001), 1 (2000), 1 (1999), 1
(1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year