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Business & Economy Briefs

CADE: boost exports

At this year's annual CADE business executives' summit the theme was a strategy for exports, and the business leaders assembled called first of all for a policy of consensus that won't change with each election. The final CADE declaration also lamented the fact that Panama has not signed free trade agreements with any other country, called for more transparency and less corruption in government, and advocated a greater diversification of the export products that Panama has to offer the world.

Mireya signs Baru Free Zone law

In a bid to improve the economy of western Chiriqui province, President Moscoso has signed legislation creating a Baru Free Zone. It is hoped that the new duty-free area will stimulate commerce, tourism and exports on both sides of the Panama-Costa Rica border, particularly in Paso Canoa and Puerto Armuelles.

FAA downgrades RP air safety status

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has demoted Panama's civil aviation safety status from Category 1 to Category 2. The reduction has little immediate effect, but it may prevent Panamanian carriers from expanding their services by acquiring more landing rights in the United States and could affect the insurance rates charged to civil aviation companies here. The FAA cited a decline in maintenance as the reason for the demotion, and in a series of articles published in El Universal it was alleged that money for maintenance of airport firefighting equipment was diverted to maintenance of the presidential aircraft.

San Felipe Market to become tourist site

Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro says that he'll move the San Felipe Public Market from its present location in the Casco Viejo to the former Customs house on Avenida B, but that the area will not be torn up or developed. Given that the market is recognized as part of a world heritage site by UNESCO, the city has decided to preserve it and use it as a place where tourists buy handicrafts rather than as a place where people in the neighborhood buy groceries.

IMF to review RP in September

The International Montetary Fund has announced that it will review Panama's performance with regard to promises made to the international lender this coming September. The Moscoso administration, having campaigned against some of the conditions imposed by international financial institutions, has nevertheless not done many things that would incite their wrath. The commitment that the administration has most notoriously been unable to fulfill has been tax reform, which is stalled in the Legislative Assembly and will likely remain so.

Meat and seafood importer fined, temporarily closed

The Ministry of Agricultural and Livestock Development has imposed a $100,000 fine and the Ministry of Health a temporary closure on Frigorifico Mangrafor SA, a company that imports frozen meat and seafood into Panama, for violating sanitary regulations. The company is accused of improperly using a permit to import animal fat to bring in Uruguayan beef, according to an alleged paper trail by way of Miami. It is illegal to import Uruguayan beef because foot-and-mouth disease is endemic in that country but has not been seen in Panama for many years. Mangrafor's legal representative, Ricardo Mangravita, denies wrongdoing by his company and says that the problem is just a misunderstanding.

ARI grants quarry permit at Howard

The Interoceanic Regional Authority (ARI) has granted a permit to Reno Transport, SA to extract stone from the old Eagle Rock Quarry, which is within the confines of the former Howard Air Force Base and hasn't been mined for several decades. The project's environmental impact statement has been reviewed and approved by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM), but there remains a question about what restrictions the quarry's operations might impose upon Howard's contemplated development as an air freight hub.

Mireya's past-due rent

El Universal reports that the presidency owes Grupo de La Guardia more than a million dollars in car rental payments. The alleged $1,070, 923.20 bill would represent just one of many accounts on which the government is in arrears. The main problem is that the economy is weak, which reduces the government's tax revenues and delays their payment, which in turn makes the government less able to make timely payments on its bills.

Colon tax charge moratorium

Owing to the economic crisis, the municipality of Colon has declared that during the month of May there will be no interest or late fees charged for late tax payments. A lot of businesses have been late paying their local taxes, and the representantes do not want to aggravate the problem by increasing the cost of getting current with the city tax collectors.

Cigarette tax up

The Legislative Assembly has increased the tax on cigarettes from 10 to 15 percent. The increased revenues will to the Instituto Oncologico Nacional, which is now housed in the former Gorgas Hospital complex. The nation's main cancer treatment center saw its government subsidy cut from $8 million to $3 million last year, but it's uncertain if the new revenues will make up the difference, especially because higher prices may prompt many of the nation's tobacco addicts to smoke less.

Electric connection costs up

Two of Panama's electric companies, Elektra Noreste and EDEMET-EDECHI, have increased their fees for electrical connections. Starting April 30, the price of hooking up went up to between $50 and $100, rather than the $40 that had prevailed since before the old state-owned INTEL electric company's privatization. On the other hand, the companies have also announced that their electric rates will go down slightly in June, EDEMET-EDECHI's by five percent and Elektra Noreste's by one percent.

Cruisers boost artisans' income

The government estimates that in the first quarter of this year Panama's artisans sold about a quarter-million dollars worth of arts and crafts to tourists arriving on cruise ships. Sales to tourists at hotels are also reportedly up, particularly due to the opening of the Decameron Hotel in Farallon.

RP to host world title bout

For the first time in several years, Panama will host a world championship boxing match. The fisticuffs will fly on June 16 at the Gimnasio Roberto Duran, when WBO superflyweight champ Adonis Rivas, a Nicaraguan, defends his belt against Panamanian challenger Pedro "Rockero" Alcázar.

$795 million canal operating budget

The Cabinet Council has approved a $795 million operating budget for the Panama Canal Authority in the fiscal year that begins on October 1. The cabinet has also approved a capital improvement budget that contemplates, among other things, an increase in the canal's water storage capacity by the deepening of Gatun Lake and further work on the widening of the ship channel.

Muschett out at La Prensa

La Prensa's managing editor Stanley Muschett, the former rector of the Catholic Santa Maria la Antigua University (USMA), is the latest casualty in the takeover of the daily by former Foreign Minister Ricardo Alberto Arias. Muschett quit to take a job with the United Nations Development Program.

Harris loses again

Controversial "asset protection" man Marc Harris has lost again before the National Securities Commission (CNV). He had applied to the commission for a reconsideration of an earlier decision to deny Harris Investment a securities broker's license, but the CNV turned him down.

BellSouth files complaint

BellSouth has filed a complaint with the Public Services Regulatory Entity against telecommunications newcomer TRICOM, alleging that the latter's planned IDEN trunk system can be adapted to offer cellular telephone services. According to BellSouth, this violates Panama's "telecommunications norms" and is unfair because Cable & Wireless and BellSouth each had to pay $72 million for their cell phone system permits while TRICOM has paid no such fee. TRICOM says that the complaint is groundless because it will not be operating cell phone services, and alleges that if BellSouth's complaint is upheld it will allow established companies to ban a number of new technologies. The argument is similar to the dispute over Internet phones, which Cable & Wireless claims are a violation of its monopoly over international phone services and suppresses by cutting off the phone lines to any service provider that does not block Internet phone calls.

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