Panama Canal expansion, whose construction began in 2007 and is close to culminate, could contribute to economic growth for the coming years. That was the estimated for International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its annual report on the Panamanian economy.

Panama Canal expansion – Gogetit Highlights

* After overcoming a series of obstacles, the expanded Canal will begin operations early next year. The work has a total investment of 5,250 million dollars and is in charge of the consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal, led by Spanish company Sacyr.

* In its annual report on the Panamanian economy, the International Monetary Fund said that in the coming years, the country will maintain its growth rate between 6% and 7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

* In addition to the Panama Canal expansion, copper mining is another activity that is expected to help the country’s economic growth in the coming years.

Panama Canal expansion works are already close to be completed, so it will be operational by early 2016. In its annual report, called “Article IV”, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indicated that Panama will maintain a pace of economic growth between 6% and 7%, increasing in the coming years.

According to information published by El Venezolano website, the IMF report called “Article IV”, attributed the slowdown in Panamenian economic growth in 2014 to three causes: the delays that have suffered the redevelopment of the Panama Canal, decreasing in public investment and a reduction of activities in the Colon Free Trade Zone, which is the main center of containers in Latin America.

The International Monetary Fund was analyzing inflation in Panama and noted that in 2014, came to 2.6% as a result of low oil prices and price controls on certain foodstuffs, calculating turn an increase of 1% for 2015 after a “slow growth” of oil prices and the end of controls on food prices in July.

In addition to the Panama Canal expansion, a new copper mine is another element that is expected to help the country’s economic growth in the coming years, as the bet on copper mining permit to extract 320,000 tons of copper annually for 34 years, directly influencing the Panama’s economic growth.

The project includes a mine and a processing plant located in Punta Rincon, 120 kilometers from the capital and a port area, where the concentrate is filtered and loaded on ships. It will start operating from the first quarter of 2018.

Read more information here (Article in Spanish).

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