Panama records dip in first-quarter foreign direct investment

Panama has been Central America's leader in foreign direct investment, but the first quarter of 2018 has seen a 17 percent year-on-year decline to $1.1 billion.

FDI totaled $5.3 billion in 2017, some 8.6 percent of nominal GDP, as well as a 1.8 percent more than the previous year.

The International Monetary Fund projects Panama’s GDP growth to be some 4.6 percent for this year and 6.8 percent for 2019.