LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2026

*Panama’s national statistics institute (Inec) has released new figures showing monthly inflation in April was 1.1%, up from 0.9% in March, and 0.1% in February. Inec did not provide the annual figure. The monthly rise was driven by transport, which was up 6.2%, followed by information and communication (+0.5%), and housing, water, electricity and gas (0.4%). The rise in transport was driven by the category of fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment, which was up 22.7% as a result of the international rise in fuel prices due to the war in the Middle East. Last year closed with -0.2% annual deflation.