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| A butterfly on an orange flower. The name “Panama” is said to mean “an abundance of fish” or “an abundance of butterflies” in the native Indian language. Panama City, Panama. Photo: UBS / Dag Smemo (PAN03DJ-126.JPG) |
PANAMA — The boats that continue to bustle up and down the Panama Canal and the modern banking, manufacturing and trading facilities that have sprung up in Panama’s cities over recent years can give the impression of a uniformly thriving, wealthy country. They certainly make it easy to overlook the fact that almost 40 per cent of the population of three million still live below the poverty line. It is contrasts of this kind that characterise Panama, a land whose name is said to mean ‘an abundance of fish’ or ‘an abundance of butterflies’ in the native Indian language.
Fortunes
Strategically located between North and South America and between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Panama’s fortunes have risen and fallen as foreign powers have competed for influence. It is a country of both mountains and plains and of both undisturbed rainforest (it has the largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon Basin) and crowded cities. While per capita gross domestic product (GDP) averages US$6,000, the wealthiest 10 per cent of the population account for over 35 per cent of household income and the poorest 10 per cent account for only 1.2 per cent. While jobs for skilled workers are plentiful, there is an oversupply of unskilled workers and unemployment stands at around 16 per cent.
Looking beyond these contrasts, the picture that emerges of Panama is one of a land of opportunity. It has a young population – 30 per cent of Panamanians are aged 14 or under and the median age for the population as a whole is 25 – and also benefits from a literacy rate of 92 per cent, among the highest in the region. Internationally, it is still striving to shake off its reputation as a major transhipment centre for drugs and illegal immigrants heading for the US, but its influence has grown since it took over control of the Panama Canal, which accounts for 10 per cent of its GDP, from the US in 1999. Domestically, President Mireya Moscoso, who became Panama’s first female President in 1999, has been attempting to tackle people’s concerns in areas such as employment, education and the economy. (WR 383/8 -1/2.04)
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