The president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDE), Giulia De Sanctis, expressed concern about the elimination of a key requirement to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Social Security Fund (CSS).
During the discussion in the first debate of the reforms to the CSS law, the deputies ignored the proposal to establish that aspiring director members have at least 10 years of professional experience in law, finance, administration, management of pension funds or of health.
The president highlighted that the elimination of this requirement undermines citizens’ confidence in the management of the CSS. “We have seen how the Board of Directors has not met the expectations of Panamanians,” he stated. Furthermore, he stressed that “if the national government is asking for a sacrifice for all sectors, what we expect is better hospital service, better care. By eliminating the experience requirement, what you are telling us is that they want to do the same old thing.”
De Sanctis, in turn, called on members of the National Assembly to reconsider the inclusion of the eliminated requirement, indicating that “those responsible for managing the most significant funds in the country must have the necessary expertise.”
On the other hand, the president criticized the lack of speed in the discussion of this law by the deputies, warning about the consequences of not acting quickly, mentioning that the risk rating agencies are looking closely at this discussion, which affects the foreign direct investment and the international image of the country.
