https://www.prensa.com/economia/economia-cerro-el-2019-con-3-de-crecimiento/

The Panamanian economy grew 3% at the end of 2019, which meant an increase of $ 1,256.8 million, to end with a gross domestic product (GDP), in absolute terms, of $ 43,061 million.

The indicator was reported the afternoon this Monday, March 2 by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) of the Comptroller General of the Republic, compared with the same period of 2018 and valued in volume measures chained with reference in 2007.

The behavior of the economy for the fourth quarter of 2019 was 3.3%, higher than the previous three quarters, the latter being the momentum of annual growth.

This growth was mainly due to the mining sector, which registered 45.4%, being the most dynamic in proportion to the other economic sectors, specifically due to the increase in the activity of the extraction of copper concentrate in the second half of the year.

The transport, storage and communications category registered an annual increase of 6.8%, driven by the operations of the Panama Canal, which grew 6.3%, given the increase in tolls and ship services; the port system rose 7.7%, the general cargo 11.4% and the bulk cargo 16.7%.

The construction sector barely contributed 0.1%. Other activities that showed positive growth during the year were: the major and minor trade 2.4%; however, the activity carried out in the Colon Free Zone decreased.