According to a study conducted on several countries (Economic Freedom of the World Report 2018) based on the degree of economic freedom, size of Government, legal security, monetary stability, commercial freedom and regulations, Panama has been successful in its monetary policies, positioning itself as the third country with the greatest commercial freedom in the world.
With regard to the general situation, the report indicates that Panama, after the fall recorded in the period from 2008 to 2011, has shown a consistent and steady rise with respect to monetary stability and commercial freedom.
A score that is considerably lower than the other indicators is about legal security.
The bureaucratic excesses when exporting and importing products have been called into question. In Panama, a permit to import may take weeks or months depending on the product, while in other countries, it is possible to obtain an import permit in about ten minutes.
The president of the National Council of Private Enterprise, Severo Sousa, believes that Panama can improve significantly if it manages to overcome some legal security barriers and also some difficulties related to the minimum wage and hiring practices.
