Panama's economy will fall 9% in 2020 and will recover expand by 4%, in 2021, says a revised government forecast issued Thursday. July 30.

the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) put the drop in GDP this year at 2% due to the COVID-19 pandemic

"In its estimates, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama considers that, although the country will have a decrease of 9% in this 2020, a recovery of 4% is estimated for 2021," President Laurentino Cortizo said Thursday. , in a speech to businessmen.

The new forecast of the Panamanian Executive is close to that released last week by Bank of America, which calculates a drop of 10% for Panama's GDP, and short of that of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),- 6.5%.

Cortizo told members of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (Apede) that this year it is estimated that the drop in the current income of the Central Government will reach $3 billion.

After 143 days of the pandemic, Panama accumulated until Wednesday 63,269 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,374 deaths.

Cortizo highlighted the country's growth potential for 2021, including a macroeconomic position that will allow it to take advantage of the reactivation of world trade,  he said and pointed to the Bank of America, which calculates a growth of 5.5% for Panama in 2021.

He also highlighted the analyzes that place the country as one of the few that by 2022 could have the economy back to pre-pandemic levels.

In the past decade, Panama was one of the most booming economies in the region due to investment in large public infrastructure works, but for more than five years GDP  expansion of has slowed.