Xifres de comerç exterior de Panamà

Foreign Trade in Figures

Panama is mainly export oriented and highly dependent on trade, which represents 83.2% of GDP. The country also has the largest trading fleet in the world, with 16% of the global fleet carrying capacity being registered in Panama. The free zone of Colón is the second largest free zone in the world after Hong Kong, demonstrating the country’s openness to foreign trade. Panama mainly exports medicaments (14.6%), oxygen-function amino-compounds (5.6%), sulphonamides (4.5%), electrical apparatus for line telephony (4.3%), and perfumes (3.5%), while its top imports include petroleum oils (8.6%), medicaments (6.7%), motor vehicles (3.9%), oxygen-function amino-compounds (3.4%), and electrical apparatus for line telephony (2.7%). According to IMF Foreign Trade Forecasts, the volume of exports of goods and services decreased by 14.7% in 2020 and is expected to increase by 17.1% in 2021, while the volume of imports of goods and services decreased by 17.4% in 2020 and is expected to increase by 17.6% in 2021.

The country’s partners are the United States, China, Colombia, Singapore, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and South Korea. The expansion of the canal has more than doubled its capacity, allowing it to accommodate vessels that were originally too wide with the United States and China being the first users of this vessel type. The country has trade agreements with the United States, Mexico, Peru, Canada, Chile, Singapore, Taiwan, and Israel. Panama is also a member of the "Central American Integration System" (or SICA), a regional institution whose main purpose is to promote integration between Central American countries, fostering security, freedom, democracy, and social development within the region. Additionally, Panama is also one of the countries in the Central America-EFTA agreement, as well as the Central America-EU agreement.

According to the last available data from WTO, Panama imported USD 14.7 million worth of goods and USD 3 million in services in 2020. Over the same period, the country exported USD 9.4 million in goods and USD 8.5 million in services. As a result, when only accounting for goods, Panama had a trade deficit of USD 2.7 million. However, the country registered an overall trade balance (including services) of USD 2.7 million in 2020.