Panama’s economic recovery will lead the region with a growth of 8.2% in the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022, according to the report of the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC), released Thursday, July 8, on the economic impact and of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, when the pandemic appeared, GDP closed at -17.9% and for  2021 the recovery is projected at 12%, according to ECLAC. However, it still does not reach the GDP growth levels of 3.7% in 2019, before the health crisis.

At the regional level, ECLAC raised its average growth estimate in 2021 to 5.2%, a figure that denotes a rebound from the deep contraction of 6.8% recorded in 2020 as a result of the adverse effects of measures adopted to combat the pandemic.

According to the United Nations, this expansion will not be enough to ensure sustained growth since the social impacts of the crisis and the structural problems in the region have worsened and will continue during the recovery stage.

The blow of the pandemic in the economies of Latin America has been catastrophic when compared to the rest of the world since 1.2 million deaths are registered due to the disease, which is equivalent to 32% of the world's total of deaths. Latin America only represents 8.4% of the world population, that is, the percentage of deaths is four times more than the percentage of the world population.

Vaccination
In Latin America, 13.6% of the population has been vaccinated, well below the percentages in other regions such as Canada and the United States, where 46.3% of the population is already vaccinated.

Among the 31 Latin American countries, Panama has 13.6% of the population with complete vaccination, below other countries in the area such as Cuba, with 13.8%; Colombia, 14.6%; Mexico, 15.4%; Costa Rica, 15.9%; El Salvador, 17.9%

“The panorama is complex and if we do not make the changes, if we do not eliminate once and for all the culture of privilege expressed in evasion, in illicit funds and tax expenditures and excessive concentration of wealth, we will not be able to get out of this low growth trajectory ”, warned Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of ECLAC.