Panama’s economy advanced 3.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, easing from a 4 percent expansion in the previous period. Output growth slowed in financial services (4.7 percent from 5.6 percent in Q4 2018); social services & private health (2.7 percent from 9.4 percent); education (0.9 percent from 6.1 percent); construction (4.5 percent from 6.5 percent); mining (4.5 percent from 6.5 percent); and transport & communications (4.3 percent from 5.7 percent). Also, manufacturing activity continued to contract (-0.9 percent, the same as in Q4) and fishing shrank further (-39.9 percent from -27.4 percent). Meanwhile, output went up at a faster pace in agriculture (2.4 percent from 0.4 percent); trade (1.9 percent from 1.8 percent); real estate (2.8 percent from 1.9 percent); and utilities (5.6 percent from 2.3 percent). GDP Annual Growth Rate in Panama averaged 6.92 percent from 2010 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 12.20 percent in the second quarter of 2011 and a record low of 3.10 percent in the second quarter of 2018.
GDP Annual Growth Rate in Panama is expected to be 3.50 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate GDP Annual Growth Rate in Panama to stand at 4.80 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Panama GDP Annual Growth Rate is projected to trend around 5.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.