The Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP) once again ruled on the Single Dialogue Table and assured that Believing that it is possible to adopt economic and commercial policies without the active participation of the private sector not only reveals a deep ignorance of how the economy works, but also that its effects could be diametrically opposed to those desired.
The president of the business association, Marcela Galindo, said that as has been repeatedly demonstrated, imposing figures such as price control, profit margin control and trade barriers ultimately ends up affecting not only the private sector and the country’s producers, but also the consumers themselves.
“In a short time our economy will begin to see the consequences of making critical decisions without any technical support beyond the ideological whim. Shortage of products; decrease in supply; disincentives to production; deterioration in the value for money; they are just some of the immediate effects that all Panamanians will suffer,” he explained.
He confirmed that immediately added to this, the investment and growth prospects of the economy will be directly impacted, which in turn will increase the already worrying unemployment nationwide. Not to mention the possibility of economic reactivation, which with the agreements presented so far at the Dialogue Table will suffer a major setback.
Concurrent with the aforementioned Dialogue Table, the CCIAP said that the General State Budget Bill for B/. 27,162.9 million lacks containment and control of public spending, much less austerity. “We reiterate the need for the roadmap to be presented as soon as possible that reflects a true implementation of the necessary actions with respect to substantial savings by the National Government, since with the recent measures taken, the future is even more uncertain.”
Galindo said that they are aware that there are temporary problems that need to be addressed as soon as possible, “which we are willing to address from all sides to propose readjustments by private companies. Likewise, for years we have pointed out that we are facing underlying structural imperfections that have must be addressed with a great sense of urgency, in order to eliminate disparities and achieve a more equitable society with access to opportunities, but the first step that must be taken to eliminate these inequalities is to attack corruption at all levels. both public and private, end privilege and lack of transparency”.
