• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
FREE REPORT
BEST PLACES TO RETIRE
*No spam: We will NEVER give your email address to anyone else.
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
Live and Invest Overseas
  • HOME
  • COUNTRIES
    • Top Destinations
      • Portugal
      • Panama
      • Belize
      • France
      • Colombia
      • Dominican Republic
      • Thailand
      • Mexico
      • Spain
      • Argentina
    • Browse All Countries
    • Best For
      • Retire Overseas Index
      • Health Care
      • Cost of Living
      • Investing in Real Estate
      • Editor’s Picks For Retirement
      • Establishing Residency
      • Starting an Online Business
      • Single Women
      • Playing Golf
  • BUDGETS
    • Super Cheap ($)
      • Cuenca, Ecuador
      • Chiang Mai, Thailand
      • The Philippines
      • Las Tablas, Panama
      • Granada, Nicaragua
    • Cheap ($$)
      • Algarve, Portugal
      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Carcassone, France
      • Buenos Aires, Argentina
    • Affordable ($$$)
      • Abruzzo, Italy
      • Barcelona, Spain
      • Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
      • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
      • Costa de Oro, Uruguay
    • Luxury On A Budget ($$$$)
      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Paris, France
      • Panama City Beach Area
  • Real Estate
  • ARCHIVES
    • Living & Retiring Overseas
    • Raising A Family Abroad
    • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
    • Offshore Diversification
    • Our Latest On Coronavirus ⚠️
  • Making Money
    • International Real Estate
    • Banking
    • Employment
    • Investing
  • CONFERENCES
  • BOOKSTORE
No Result
View All Result
Live and Invest Overseas
No Result
View All Result

Martinelli Is Reshaping Panama

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
May 03, 2013
in Retirement/Living
0
A skyline view of Panama City with a red sign saying, "Panama. We're Open For Investment."
208
SHARES
3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A Man With A Plan

Yesterday, I recommended Panama as the best place in the world to base an international business. I offered many reasons to support this position, including this country’s top-notch infrastructure, especially in Panama City.

It’s safe to say that the infrastructure in Panama is better than anywhere else in Central America. The transportation infrastructure, the telecommunications infrastructure, the banking infrastructure…anyway you consider it, the infrastructure in this country exists to a higher level and works on a more reliable basis than anywhere else in this part of the world.

That reality begs a question:

Why?

Why is the infrastructure better in Panama than anywhere else in this entire region?

In part it’s because of the extended American presence last century. However, looking ahead, the reason why the infrastructure in this country is continually expanding and improving is because of current President Ricardo Martinelli and his Five-Year Plan.

In this part of the world, having a plan isn’t such a big deal. Everybody down here in the lands of bananas and mañanas has a plan.

Martinelli’s Five-Year Plan is notable because Martinelli is actually implementing it. Immediately upon taking office in 2009, he published his 122-page plan (drafted with the help of McKinsey and Company) in English…and then he set about making it happen. He hasn’t stopped to take a breath in the three-and-a-half years since. Frankly, what Martinelli has accomplished already in his term as Panama’s president is nothing short of extraordinary. And he’s got a year-and-a-half still to go.

Highlights of Martinelli’s Five-Year Plan include:

  • Replacing the old Diablo rojo buses that clog the Panama City roadways with new Metro Buses (this was accomplished officially, completely, with the last old Diablo rojos taken off the roads just last month)…
  • Building a new 13.7-kilometer-long Metro across the capital (the roads across the city are torn up as this work continues, gaping holes at key intersections…it’s the daily commuter’s current nightmare but an important investment in the viability of this city long term)…
  • Developing a new Government City where the 200 government offices will be consolidated (saving the city millions of dollars a year in rent)…
  • The extension of the Cinta Costera; this three-phase highway expansion project is in phase three…
  • The cleanup of the Bay of Panama (the French engineer father of one of our son’s friends, in Panama to manage this project, reports that it’s proceeding on schedule…and, frankly, none too soon)…
  • The development of Panama Pacifico, a new city across the Bridge of the Americas where business development is being further incentivized by tax breaks and other perks (and where many of the 40-plus international companies operating in this country are choosing to base themselves)…
  • The construction of additional highways to connect key strategic points across the country (a new highway from Tocumen Airport to Colon, for example)…
  • Establishing a new international airport at Rio Hato (we’ve been watching the progress of this project with particular interest, as, when this new international airport is operating, landing here will reduce the drive time out to our emerging community at Los Islotes by two hours)…
  • Expanding the international airports at Tocumen and David…

That’s a total investment of about US$4 billion.

Where has Martinelli been getting all the capital for all these improvements? The Panama Canal!

In the dozen years they’ve been running this show, the Panamanians have generated for themselves more than US$6 billion in surplus Canal revenues.

Over the past dozen years, Panama has increased annual tonnage figures and prices at the same time…and it has decreased Canal transit time from 33 to 23 hours. The world’s big shipping outfits are happy to pay more to get where they’re going quicker.

Not ones to leave great enough alone, the Panamanians are in the process of expanding the Canal, pushing ahead in typically aggressive Panamanian style with a US$5.25 billion expansion of their greatest asset. This will result in even greater annual Canal revenues, both direct (more transit fees) and indirect (more maritime registrations, more maritime insurance fees, etc.).

It will also mean ever-increasing employment. Unemployment has fallen from as high as 12% about a decade ago to about 6% today.

Three-and-a-half years ago when Martinelli took office, his Five Year Plan seemed super-ambitious. Today, it seems more like a to-do list that Martinelli is systematically working his way through.

Martinelli took office with unprecedented approval ratings. Today, he has his share of detractors and, sure, he’s rubbed some folks the wrong way. He’s a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners kind of a guy. But, down here in the land of bananas and mañanas, I know from experience, sometimes you’ve got to push hard to get things done. And Martinelli is getting things done.

Kathleen Peddicord

Continue Reading: Financing The Purchase Of Property In Malaysia

Comments

Tags: 'retirement'martinelliPanamaPanama Canalricardo
Share83Tweet52
Previous Post

Financing The Purchase Of Property In Malaysia

Next Post

El Cangrejo Top Retirement Choice

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

Related Posts

Skyline of Paris with Eiffel Tower.
Retirement/Living

While Away Your Days In Paris

by Kathleen Peddicord
April 21, 2021
0

In 2007, I left the publishing company where I’d been working since the age of 21. I thought I was...

Read more
Panama City, Panama.

One Of The Greatest Melting Pots

April 20, 2021
Cinta Costera, Panama City, Panama

How To Move Abroad: The #1 Tip To Start Your New Life Overseas

April 18, 2021
Grilled sardines with salad, bread and potato, Portugal.

Food, Wine, Customs, And Culture In The Algarve, Portugal

April 16, 2021
Toledo, Spain.

Why You Shouldn’t Retire Overseas

April 11, 2021
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Where Are The Cheapest Places In The World

April 9, 2021
Doi Inthanon National Park when sunset, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Top 10 Best Places To Live In Asia For Retirees

April 8, 2021
Next Post
El Cangrejo, Panama City, Panama

El Cangrejo Top Retirement Choice

A world full of fun, adventure, and profit awaits! Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on the 10 Best Places To Retire In Style Overseas Today.

Start Your New Life Today, Overseas

how to retire overseas

LIOS Resources


  • New To LIOS
  • Ask An Expert
  • Media Center
  • Contact Us
  • FAQs

Quick Links


  • Best Places To Live
  • Best Places To Retire
  • Finding A Job Overseas
  • Real Estate

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and get your FREE report: The 10 Best Places To Retire Overseas In 2021

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • Unsubscribe

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Countries
  • Budgets
  • Archives
  • News
  • Events
  • Bookstore
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Members Area
  • Contact Us

© 2008-2021 - Live and Invest Overseas - All Rights Reserved.

WANT TO RETIRE OVERSEAS?

Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we’ll immediately send you a free report on the 10 BEST PLACES TO RETIRE in style overseas. Each day you’ll learn about the best opportunities for international living, retiring overseas, offshore diversification and asset protection, and investing in real estate around the world.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.