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

Canal budget presented: On 27 July the president of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) directorate, Rómulo Roux, presented the national congress with the proposed budget for the Panama Canal for the fiscal year 2013 (which runs from 1 October 2012 to 30 September 2013), following its approval by the council of ministers. The budget, which is for a total of US$2.38bn, a 0.38% increase on last year, envisages a direct contribution to state coffers of US$960.5m, up US$9.8m on the previous year, and an indirect contribution of US$177.9m.

The budget does not, however, take into account recent controversial proposed toll increases on the Panama Canal. The increases, of up to 15%, were approved by the ACP on 18 April along with the introduction of three new vessel type segments and were due to go into effect on 1 July, but have since been postponed (see sidebar). On 27 June the ACP announced it would delay the move following complaints by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), along with Ecuador, Chile and Japan. In a statement, the ACP said: “at the request of the industry, implementation of the new charges has been postponed from July 2012 to October 2012, giving the industry additional lead time before implementation of the new tolls as well as providing an additional three months before the second step of increase in 2013”. The statement adds that “the revised proposal eliminates the proposed container/break-bulk segment. Container/break-bulk vessels will continue to be classified as part of the segment known as other”.

2013 Budget proposal: On 2 August Economy and Finance Minister Frank De Lima presented the 2013 State Budget proposal to the congressional budget committee. The proposal is for US$16.26bn, a 12.6% increase on the current budget, and is based on projected real GDP growth of 8.0% for 2012 (down from the 10.6% recorded in 2011). According to the proposal, US$7.57bn will go on operating costs, US$6.94bn on investment and US$1.7bn on debt servicing. De Lima explained that US$7.9bn would go on social services (education, health, labour and housing); US$1.16bn on infrastructure; and US$3.35bn on production.  Key infrastructure projects such as the US$1.6bn metro – the flagship project of President Ricardo Martinelli, who took office in July 2009 - are due for completion in 2013.

• Panama toll increases

Describing the new changes as “simply unacceptable”, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) had complained that the shipping industry had been assured of only one small toll adjustment before the completion of the Canal expansion project in 2014. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) had described the changes as necessary to “reflect the value provided by the Canal to its users”. It also said that the main changes would affect tankers, chemical vessels and general cargo. For example, tolls for tankers will increase from US$4.46 per PC/UMS Ton (Panama Canal Universal Measurement System) for the first 10,000 tonnes to US$4.68 as of July 2012, and to US$4.92 as of July 2013.