Panama: Selected Issues

International Monetary Fund

No 2020/125, IMF Staff Country Reports from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: This Selected Issues paper focuses on background, challenges, and policy options in Panama. Panama stands at a crossroad between taking the leap to become an advanced economy or getting stuck in the middle-income trap. The beginning of a new administration provides a window of opportunity to initiate and implement ambitious reforms. This note takes stock of fiscal issues in Panama and proposes policy options. The new administration’s fiscal agenda should feature a comprehensive reform of tax and customs administrations, a review of tax incentives and exemptions and consider steps toward a broader tax policy reform. Efforts to further strengthen the fiscal framework with the appointment of the members of the Fiscal Council should continue going forward. Panama should adopt best practice fiscal accounting and reporting methods. A comprehensive assessment and management of fiscal risks is necessary to create buffers and safeguard public finances given fiscal policy’s exclusive stabilization role.

Keywords: ISCR; CR; Panama; bank; government; lending; regime; CFT regime; academia Panamá para el Futuro; property price; innovation Panama; labor productivity growth; bank resolution framework; CFT statistics; CFT cross-agency cooperation; Mortgages; Housing prices; Real estate prices; Global; Central America; Caribbean; Europe; Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 88
Date: 2020-04-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc
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