Caribbean & Central America - June 2026

PANAMA | Toughening tax transparency. On 27 May Panama’s 71-member unicameral legislature approved new legislation which requires multinational entities domiciled in the country to demonstrate that they have physical operations in Panama, for example illustrating that there are “qualified personnel, appropriate premises, strategic decision making, and actual operating expenses within national territory”, or else face a 15% tax on passive foreign income. It also grants special treatment for income derived from intangible assets developed in Panama, such as patents, trademarks, and copyrights, to encourage innovation, while the merchant marine sector as well as financial entities supervised by the banking, securities, and insurance superintendencies are excluded from the regime. The regulations will take effect from the 2027 fiscal period and will grant a 90-day period for the executive branch to issue implementing regulations. The new initiative is in line with government efforts to remove Panama from the European Union (EU)’s list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes – a major priority for the administration led by President José Raúl Mulino.

HAITI/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Flights resume. On 30 May commercial and cargo flights between Haiti and the Dominican Republic resumed after a suspension of more than two years. Flights between the two countries were suspended by the Dominican government in March 2024 due to the wave of gang-related violence in Haiti. The security crisis has by no means been resolved yet, but Haiti’s foreign ministry said flights would resume to the international airport in Haiti’s second largest city, Cap-Haïtien, in the north of the country, rather than the Toussaint Louverture international airport in Port-au-Prince, as the gangs retain a strong presence in the Haitian capital.

Central America & Caribbean: inflation rate
Percentage variation (year-on-year)

Central America & Caribbean: GDP growth (%)
Quarterly figures are year-on-year growth