Panama’s offshore financial centre and canal linking the Pacific with the Atlantic oceans have attracted as much business as they have presented challenges to the country’s international reputation and economy in recent years.
In 2016, leaked documents from Panama City-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, known as the Panama Papers, blew new oxygen onto the already highly flammable debate over tax havens and secrecy. More recently the Panama Canal, a large and reliable source of income for the country, has exposed the need for stronger security and international co-operation on illegal trafficking. Modernising and tightening controls on both Panama’s financial centre and its logistics zone are of paramount importance, says finance minister Dulcidio De La Guardia.
