Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Climate change poses new threat to Panama Canal
At the end of last year, the Panama Canal had a problem: too much water. Torrential rains had swollen its main water source, the artificial Lake Gatún, beyond capacity, forcing the canal authority to open the floodgates to evacuate the excess out into the Atlantic.
But in a twist of meteorological fate, amplified by climate change, within three months the opposite was true: a severe El Niño weather phenomenon struck and the canal began imposing cargo restrictions to cope with what turned into the worst drought in its 115-year history.
“We had no rain for nearly five-and-a-half months,” Carlos Vargas, the canal authority’s executive vice-president of environment, water and energy told the Financial Times. “Usually the dry season lasts four months, but this was off the charts.”
Source: Financial Times
A detailed, thorough look at Panama Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband Statistics for 2019.
Panama’s economic prospects remain promising, with GDP growth during the last few years being steady at between 5% and 6% annually. This growth has had a positive effect on the country’s telecom market, which has also grown steadily and attracted considerable investment from significant international operators including Telefonica, America Movil and Liberty Global.
Liberty Global in 2016 acquired Cable & Wireless Communications, which owns the incumbent telco Cable & Wireless Panama. The deal has enabled Liberty Global to combine CWP’s businesses in Panama and the Caribbean with its own operations in Chile and Puerto Rico.
The merged operator provides improved bundled service offerings and has stimulated competition with the other regional players Digicel and Claro. In December 2017 Liberty Global created Liberty Latin America (LLA) to manage the company’s Latin American and Caribbean businesses. LLA has since expanded through acquisitions, including the purchase of an 80% stake in Cabletica (Costa Rica) in February 2018.
Source: Yahoo! Finance
Ex-Business Partner Alleges Trump Organization Evaded Taxes in Panama.
Aaccording to a new legal filing in Manhattan federal court, Panama is another country where President Trump has tax problems. In the filing, a former business partner, Orestes Fintiklis, alleges that the Trump Organization evaded taxes on the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Panama City.
The filing alleges that the Trump Organization “used its control over the hotel bank accounts to make payments to itself and affiliates without withholding the 12.5 percent tax on its management fees, thus intentionally evading taxes.” According to ProPublica:
Source: Intelligencer
Is moving to Panama right for you?
Are you ready to move to Panama? Is moving to Panama the right choice? Is this the right time? These are tough questions, with no simple answers, that every expat has asked themselves and every future expat will ask themselves.
Moving to Panama is a big step! In fact, moving anywhere is a big step, and one that you should plan for, but not overthink or drive yourself crazy about. All big decisions, no matter how many things you need to factor into them before making them, come down to one overarching question you need to ask yourself: is this right for you? Here’s how to best find the answer, when the question is moving to Panama.
