Macroeconomic Forecast Panama

The number of full containers handled by Panama's ports fell by 15% y-o-y during January and February 2009, while the number of empty containers handled rose 46% during the same period. The discrepancy between full and empty containers handled points to a significant drop in trade volumes since the end of 2008. We caution that the Panamanian ports sector will remain exposed to the fall in global trade volumes, given that 5% of global trade currently passing through the Panama Canal. This is a major reason why we see real economic growth falling to just 0.8% in 2009 from 9.2% last year.

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