Panama Achieves the Highest Service Export Figure Since 2023 In the First Quarter

  • Panama accumulated $4.98Bn in services exports in the first quarter of 2025, the highest figure for that period since 2023, leveraged by the interoceanic Canal, the logistics hub, and the Central American country’s ports.
  • Foreign sales of services between January and March registered a 10.2% growth compared to the same period in 2024, said the MICI, citing data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC). The trade ministry noted that transportation was the main driver of the indicator’s performance, with revenues of $2.55Bn, boosted by the Panama Canal, the logistics hub, and the ports.
  • It added that travel services, with $1.71Bn, showed a steady rebound driven by the recovery of international tourism. The “sustained” growth in the sale of services abroad is attributed to an economic policy geared toward the diversification and modernisation of the export offering. It was also supported by special regimes such as Multinational Enterprise Headquarters (SEM), Manufacturing Services (EMMA), and Free Trade Zones.
  • Panama has thus consolidated its position as the largest exporter of services in Central America and the third largest in Latin America. As a result, the country is a strategic player in regional and global trade, with a robust platform that continues to grow and diversify.
  • Panama’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.2% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2024, driven primarily by the performance of the interoceanic Canal, according to INEC data. Panama’s GDP grew 2.9% in 2024, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects it to expand 4% in 2025, above the regional expectation of 2% and the global expectation of 2.8%, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) highlighted.

(Source: Newsroom Panama)