Judith Pena | January 3, 2023
The director of the Passport Authority, Omar Ahumada, assured on Radio Panama that 2023 will be a year of execution of works because the onslaught of the pandemic did not allow the president administrator Laurentino Cortizo to advance with the projects that had been proposed.
“We had almost 2 years in which unfortunately time froze, as a result of the pandemic, we did not have the necessary resources to face investment in road structure matters, road repairs, penetration roads, etc,” he said, assuring that This period 2023 “we are going to have these resources and we are going to combine them with the availability in terms of investment so that from the government we can inject more resources into the economy,” he specified.
He said that a large number of projects have already been tendered and many of them should start in 2023 and that this task will be achieved through the State budget in collaboration with the Private company.
Additionally, he stressed that with the execution of these works a large amount of employment will be generated, since currently more than 250,000 Panamanians affected by the pandemic remain unemployed.
He stressed that to mitigate this situation, subsidies have been given, for example the digital voucher that more than 250,000 Panamanians who are without work continue to receive, which is why it was decided to extend it until February.
He indicated that at a certain moment, through a study, it will be possible to decide if this subsidy, as well as the fuel, is suspended or continues to be given.
He added that thanks to the subsidies and moratorium, food bags and other social aid, extreme poverty in the country decreased.
