Macroeconomic Forecast Panama

BMI View: Foreign direct investment totalled US$1.8bn (equivalent to US$545 per capita) in 2007, down 29% from the previous year. While such a drop may have come as a shock, the US$1.8bn acquisition of local bank Banistmo by HSBC in 2006 goes some way to explain the discrepancy. Overall, we still expect FDI inflows to be a key driver of the economy in 2008 and beyond. We are forecasting real GDP growth of 7.2% and 6.0% in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

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