Caribbean & Central America - January 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

In his 2 January address to the nation, which marked the mid-point of his five-year mandate, Martinelli delivered an attack on the business sector and owners of media outlets that have proved critical of his government, accusing them of being "empresaurios" (business dinosaurs) and "thieves" for allegedly not paying taxes. The diatribe by Martinelli, who owns a leading chain of supermarkets among other business interests, prompted 15 ex-presidents of Panama’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture to demand a public apology. Singled out for criticism was the opposition newspaper La Prensa, a leading daily, whose founder, Roberto Eisenmann Jr, has written about government corruption cases such as the one involving the national land authority (Anati) [RC-11-10]. Eisenmann’s Desarrollo Golf Coronado S.A, has since been slapped with a US$3m fine by the revenue department (DGI) following an audit. 

   The attack on the private sector follows an executive decree, issued in December 2011, stipulating an increase of 15%-18% in the minimum wage for private sector workers, bringing it up to between US$432 and US$490 a month. The extent of the increase depends on the type of economic activity, the size of the company and its location. Labour Minister Alma Cortés told reporters that the decree followed six months of unsuccessful negotiations between the private sector and trade unions. The private sector was reportedly calling for an increase of 7% while the unions were demanding an increase of 30%.

Growth: During his speech, Martinelli also pointed to government achievements such as 10.5% GDP growth for 2011 – the highest of any country in Latin America. In a recent report, the UN Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (Eclac) cited as growth drivers: transport and telecommunications, construction, mining and financial intermediation. Economy Minister Frank de Lima told reporters that the government was forecasting 7.5% growth for 2012 although Eclac puts this at 6.5%, (albeit still the highest in Central America).