Caribbean & Central America - January 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

In early January President Martinelli gave his state of the nation address in which he outlined his government’s main achievements since taking office in July 2009. He noted that the country is on course to register the highest growth rate in all of Latin America in 2012 (10.5% on the latest figures from the UN Economic Commission on Latin America [Eclac]). Panama’s annual real GDP growth rate has averaged 8.4% in the last eight years, according to Economy Minister Frank de Lima.

  Martinelli was also pointed of new infrastructure investments, including an US$880m investment in Tocumen international airport (for a new terminal and a convention centre). A core plank of Martinelli’s plan to turn the Panama into the “Hub of the Americas", the upgrade aims to double Tocumen’s annual passenger capacity (currently 5.0ma year), allowing to rival to Miami as the region’s transport hub.

 Martinelli also claimed that the US$1.88bn metro project – his other flagship project, was 60% complete, with the first trials are due to begin in December 2013. The new metro, which has 13 stations, runs 14km through the capital and will be able to transport 15,000 people per hour in both directions, is due to begin operating in February 2014.