- Oficial Name: Republic of Panama
- Capital: Panama
- City Location: the Republic of Panama is located in the center of the western Hemisphere between the following coordinates: 7ordm;12'07" and 9ordm;38'46" North Latitude and 77ordm;09/24" and 83ordm;03'07" West Longitude. Its borders are the Colombia to the East, the Pacific Ocean to the South and the Republic of Costa Rica to the West. Panama forms the link between Central America and South America, forming an isthmus 80 Km wide at its narrowest point.
- Surface area: 75,517 Km2
- Population: 3,200,000 inhabitants (2005)
- Distribution by age:
- 0-14 years 37.0%
- 15-59 years 56.3%
- 60+ years 6.7%
- Population Concentration: The capital, Panama City is the most populated city with 987,700 inhabitants, followed by Colon with 160,882 and David with 116,791.
- Surface Area and Density: 75,99 Km2; 81 inhabitants per square mile.
- Language: the official language is Spanish
- Climate: Panama has a tropical climate throughout the country.
- Electricty: 110 volts; 60 cycles.
- Unemployment Rate: 6.3% (as of August 31, 2007).
- Literacy Rate: 92.6%
- Social Responsability: (on the part of the employee)
- 8% monthly
- Social Security
- 1.25 monthly
- Education Insurance
- Income and Porperty tax: depends on to table (according to income and status)
- Water, electricity and phone coverage:
- 82% Access to potable water, which is perfectly safe to drink.
- 83% electricity coverage
- Telephone service Panama has approximately
- 400,000 telephone lines in use and cellular phones. The domestic telephone service is very well developed. Land-line and mobile phone services are excellent.
- Income per capita: US$4,210.00 (2004)
- Religion:
- 85% Roman Catholic
- 10% Protestants
- 5% Comprises Jews, Buddhists, Hindis, Christian Orthodox and groups derived from Christian Protestant such as Jehova's Witnesses and Seventh day Adventist.
- Active population:
- 58% Services Sector
- 26% Agriculture
- 16% Industry
From this total, 47% of employees are affiliated with unions.
- Political Division: 9 provinces and 5 reservations; the nine provinces are divided into districts, autonomous political organizations in the community. Districts are divided into townships corregimientos). Each province is administered by to governor who is designated by the Executive Branch Each district has to municipal council formed by the townshipsrsquo; representatives from that district, and to presiding mayor, all of whom are elected by direct popular vote.
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- System of Government:Constitutional Democracy, Centralized Republic; Constituted by 3 branches:
- Executive Branch: The chief of the Panamanian state is the President, elected along with two vicepresidents, by popular direct and secret vote every five years. They cannot be reelected to two consecutive terms. The president has the collaboration of to cabinet of ministers.
- Legislative Branch: The legislative power in Panama es unicameral and falls upon the Legislative Assembly, formed by 72 members elected through nominations from their parties and direct popular vote for periods of five years. Its most important function is to write the laws of the nation.
- Judicial Branch: The court with the highest hirarchy in Panama is the Supreme Court of Justice, formed by 9 magistrates designated for periods of 10 years.
- Economy:strongly oriented towards the services sector, with more than 70% of gross national product and 50% of the country's employment is in this sector. During 2005, 810,000 persons worked in the services sector. Panama is memeber of the World Comerce Organization (WCO) since 1997 through law 23 of 1997. As consequence of said affiliation, several economic changes have taken place including the privatizaition of companies previously administered by the state, as well as drastic reduction on fees and tariffs in agricultural producing. Alternatively, another important source of income for the country is linked to the operations carried out by the Panama Canal.
- Tax System: Panama maitains the principle of territoriality in its tax laws, which means that all income generated or obtained outside of the territory of the Republic of Panama is exempt from taxes as well as the obligation of presenting to tax declaration, however, one can be presented as foreign operations but without the need of paying taxes. Regardless of whether the company has to domicile in the country, it is worth mentioning that the Republic of Panama has not subscribed any treaties with any other country related to tax regimeCost of Living: for an executive, it is similar to that of many large cities such as Miami, United States, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Among the factors that have contributed to being able to enjoy to good quality of life at accesible costs are currency stability, to low inflation rate traditionally lower than that of the United States (les than 2% in the last 50 years), an attractive tax regimen.
- Commercial Ingormation: In the Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture of Panama information and legal counsel is provided. It is located on 34th Street, on the corner of Cuba Avenue and Ecuador Avenue, Building 33 TO-18; telephone 227-1233; web page: www.panacamara.com.
- Work Schedules:
- Banks: Panamanian banks open from 8:00 am to 3:00pm, Mondays to Fridays, and on Saturdays from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon; Foreign banks open from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm Mondays to Fridays.
- Businesses: open Mondays through Saturdays from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm uniterrrpted, by shifts, including Sundays in many cases.
- Public Administration: from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon and from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Monday to Friday.
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