Casco Antiguo Panama
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Historic Real Estate in Panama



Panama was one of the few countries in LatinAmerica that escaped the red numbers on its first trimester, according to today´s La Prensa article by Marianela Palacios.  Althought the official number has yet to be released from the Comptroller Office, the variations for this month´s economic activity has already been published. Based on this information, the private firm Indesa has already estimated a 3% economic growth for the period.

Other countries such as Venezuela managed to grow 0.3%. Mexico had a contraction of 8.2%.

At the same page, another article announced an 8% raise on sales for Cable & Wireless. This growth  ($667 million dollars) happened despite the recent penetration of new competitors such as Claro Panama and Digicel. With both companies investing heavily in marketing, a shift or at least a balance in numbers will be expected soon.

And finally, but not least important, Panama´s major private bank Banco General expanded operations to Costa Rica. It already had an office, but now they have their license and will be starting with full operations at Escazu, San José.  At the inauguration act, Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica expressed his satisfaction: "in other countries corporations and well known banks are declaring bankrupcy, it is a relief to receive Panama´s Banco General in Costa Rica".  Fitch Ratings rated the investment "BBB"....

Cultural note... never tell a Panamanian something is BBB. For us, this is "bueno, bonito y barato" (good, beautiful and cheap)