News
Tuesday 23rd July 2024.
July 22, 2024
The Credentials, Regulations, Parliamentary Ethics and Judicial Affairs Committee is officially installed. The process took place this Monday, July 22, in the Carlos Titi Alvarado auditorium of the National Assembly, when the president of this State body, Dana Castañeda, swore in the nine members of the committee.
The members of this legislative body are the following: Luis Duke, Alexandra Brenes and Janine Prado, from Vamos; Jairo Bolota Salazar and Benicio Robinson, from the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD); Yesica Romero, from Democratic Change (CD); Shirley Castañeda, Nelson Jackson, from RM, and Edwin Vergara, from the Panameñista Party.
This is the second commission in which the alliance of RM, PRD, CD and the Panameñista Party has taken over the leadership. The first was the Economy and Finance Committee. These parties agreed to support Shirley Castañeda, who obtained six of the nine votes.
Castañeda competed against Alexandra Brenes of the Vamos coalition and, in addition to herself, she obtained the votes of Jackson, Robinson, Salazar, Vergara, and Romero. Brenes only had the votes of her Vamos colleagues. The event was held with the auditorium full of guests from the various branches of government, as well as people close to the deputies.
In the front row was Marta Linares de Martinelli, wife of former President Ricardo Martinelli; along with her sons Ricardo Alberto and Luis Enrique Martinelli Linares.
The Supreme Court justices attended: María Eugenia López (president), Carlos Vásquez Reyes and Maribel Cornejo. The Attorney General of the Nation and the Attorney General of the Administration, Javier Caraballo and Rigoberto González, respectively, also participated.
The Credentials Committee is one of the most disputed bodies by the deputies, among other things because it can put the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice and the President of the Republic in the dock.
The commission must also ratify or reject the appointments made by the Executive. At the moment, there are at least 200 appointments made by the president, José Raúl Mulino, that are awaiting the approval of this commission.
In a brief speech, Castañeda — Martinelli’s lawyer and Jorge Camargo Clarke, alias Cholo Chorrillo — advocated working “for the common good.”
The first thing he will do, he said, is to analyze the ratifications of executive appointments.
He reported that the Credentials Committee will convene a working meeting today Tuesday at 10:00 am to address the ratifications. He promised that “legitimate” proposals to reform the Assembly’s internal regulations will be considered, for which a subcommittee will be created.
The former director of the Land Transit and Transport Authority (ATTT) , Ventura Vega , referred to the ruling of the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office of the Public Ministry where he was exonerated, along with Jorge Ricardo Fábrega, Juan Pablo Mora and Roberto Moreno Olivares , for the alleged commission of the crime of embezzlement in the millionaire compensation to owners of red devil type buses.
“I have a lot of respect for justice. After 12 years of this process, a decision has been made. And regarding decisions, it doesn’t matter what kind they are. Public officials have to be accountable to society,” said Vega during the installation of the Credentials Committee of the National Assembly.
Just last Friday, July 19, the team of prosecutors made up of Blanca Jiménez, Ilka Poveda, Anilú Batista, Edwin Juárez, Pedro Menacho and Mahmad Daud Hasan , alleged, among other things, that the former directors of the ATTT had no responsibility for the irregularities detected in the bus compensation process and entrusted that obligation to the technical evaluation commission in charge of managing said procedure.
However, in March 2022, prosecutors Anilú Batista and Kyra Tascón warned that the then ATTT directors knew about the irregularities and requested that the 541 defendants be brought to trial, arguing that entity officials associated with members of the concessionaires and transporters to fraudulently compensate buses.
According to an audit by the Comptroller’s Office, this case would have caused damage to the State of at least $24 million.
Vega is one of the people closest to the president, José Raúl Mulino . He is also credited with helping the current president of the Legislative Assembly, Dana Castañeda, to obtain votes for the post on July 1.
The National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Antai) carried out visual inspections in the Municipality of Colón, after Mayor Diógenes Galván filed a complaint for alleged irregularities found after the end of the administration of the former mayor of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Alex Lee .
According to Antai’s lawyer, Luis Dilones, the inspections are being carried out in order to verify the state of the Mayor’s assets and to check all the administrative documentation that should be in the offices. Galván denounced irregularities in the municipal treasury and payments to alleged “bottles”.
On July 11, Galván had also reported the disappearance of 28 vehicles that had been delivered to Lee by the Directorate of Administration of Seized Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). As of Wednesday, July 17, 13 of these cars had already been returned and were in the custody of the municipality of Colón.
In the last 72 hours, the National Police arrested a total of 453 people. Of these, 244 were arrested on official charges, 144 for administrative offences, 46 in flagrante delicto, and 19 for micro-trafficking.
89 search warrants were carried out and 18 firearms with 57 rounds of ammunition were recovered, in addition to the sum of $4,080.50 in cash. Also seized were 70 reeds and 31 small envelopes of cocaine, in addition to 48 packages, 39 small envelopes and 10 bags of marijuana.
In terms of traffic, the National Police reported that 6,520 traffic tickets were issued, of which 1,325 were for speeding, 294 for vehicles not having the proper lights, 78 for proven drunkenness, 43 for talking on a cell phone, 24 for alcohol in their breath, and 23 for expired licenses. In addition, it was reported that 262 vehicles were towed by cranes for various reasons.
The government of former President Laurentino Cortizo increased the country’s total debt balance by 2.075 billion dollars during the last month of his administration. With this increase, the previous administration left the debt at 51.812 billion dollars.
In total, the Cortizo administration increased the total debt balance by 25.2 billion dollars , which represents an increase of 94.6%, taking into account that in June 2019 the balance was 26.612 billion dollars.
Despite the high increase, the former Minister of the MEF, Héctor Alexander, pointed out during his administration that the management of the debt was done “in a calculated and responsible manner; it was not done at random.”
However, for the rating agency Moody’s , which still maintains the country with an investment grade rating, the sovereign credit outlook will be strongly influenced by the fiscal consolidation plan of the next government, as well as by its willingness and ability to cope with the increasing rigidity of spending and a limited revenue base.
For its part, Fitch , which last March downgraded Panama’s rating to BB+ from BBB-, which represented the loss of investment grade, considers that one of the main challenges that the Government will face is the deterioration of the fiscal profile related to fiscal policy, income and expenditure, public debt, tax collection, evasion and fiscal sustainability.
Faced with these challenges, the Minister of the MEF, Felipe Chapman , has acknowledged that the country faces many challenges, such as the aftermath of the pandemic that generated unemployment and a precarious financial situation for the majority of Panamanians, in addition to the increase in public debt and lower income, which will lead the government of José Raúl Mulino to implement a plan to contain public spending.
Chapman admitted that the country is in a fiscal situation that warrants implementing a program to contain public spending for the rest of the year, but at the same time, he has indicated to the private sector that the Government will fulfill all its commitments.
The balance of consumer debts in Panama with banks increased by 3.38% at the end of June and totals more than $35,352 million. On average, each person who has a loan with a financial institution owes $18,303.
It is estimated that there are a total of 2.4 million clients with loans from banks, cooperatives, other financial institutions and companies that sell on credit, according to data from the APC Experian credit bureau. Of this number of people, 2.01 million are nationals and 313,058 are foreigners. In addition, there are 82,877 legal entities.
The highest burden on bank debt balances is due to mortgages, which exceed $20,817 million at the end of June. In total, there are 335,572 active mortgage loans with an average balance of $62,037. The average mortgage arrears rate is 5.61% of the balances that are more than 61 days or more than 2 months past due.
In the case of personal loans, the balance is $8,018 million with a total of 614,650 credit obligations. Each person owes an average of $13,046 in personal loans, and the default rate covers 5.42% of loans with more than 61 days of unpaid debt.
Credit card debt as of June totals $2.584 billion, 6.7% more than in the same month last year, and delinquency is the highest of all credit segments with banks, reaching 10.99% of credit card balances that are not paid on time and are overdue for more than 2 months. On average, the credit card balance per person is $3,386.
Adding the balance of bank loans to those of cooperatives, financial institutions and other entities such as businesses and companies that sell on credit, the total balance amounts to $39,614 million, which represents an increase of 2.9% compared to the more than $38,494 million in June 2023 balance.
The president of the board of directors of the Banking Association of Panama, Raúl Guizado, warned this July that interest rates will remain high in the country for a little longer.
“We are still in a period where interest rates are high and they will remain high for at least the rest of this year,” Guizado said, noting that the U.S. Federal Reserve has not yet announced a rate cut.
He said that if the FED makes a decision to lower rates, the effect in Panama will not be felt immediately. “That will not be seen immediately but later, because we see that rates will remain high, but banks are willing to contribute to the development of the economy and we will focus on providing more financing to small and medium-sized companies,” he announced within the framework of the International Financial Summit that took place at the beginning of July.