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The World Bank Group’s Doing Business website ranks countries for ease of doing business. Panama ranks 81st out of 181 economies ranked. Panama ranks eighth in doing business across borders. Panama ranks twenty-eighth in getting credit for doing business. Within the Western Hemisphere Panama ranks eleventh overall out of thirty-one countries. Panama ranks seventy-third in dealing with construction permits.

Ease of Doing Business in Panama: the Numbers

Dealing with Construction Permits and Panama Real Estate Investment

Panama’s economy is thriving. Panama has the highest per capita foreign investment in Latin America. With high ratings for good governance Panama is seen a good place for investment in business and real estate. An issue that an investor should look at is if he or she wants to do business personally in Panama or invest in commercial property and let the locals deal with Panama’s laws and regulations. An example of doing business in Panama is the matter of getting a construction permit.

The Doing Business website’s page on Panama construction permits cites a hypothetical $400,000 warehouse construction project in Panama City, Panama. The website lists 21 procedures of which 9 can be done simultaneously with other procedures. Of the twelve that need to be done in sequence here are five for a total of 80 days and $5,577 USD.

• obtaining an environmental impact study (23 days and $700 USD)
• requesting and getting a building permit (14 days and $4,267 USD)
• requesting and getting an occupancy permit (10 days and $60 USD)
• registering the building with the central property registry (18 days and $550)
• filing with the Cadastral office (15 days and no charge)

Longest wait in the simultaneous category is 15 days to request and get preliminary approval from the environmental authority in Panama. The total cost for the simultaneous category is $480 USD and the total for all procedures is $6,761.

Panama’s economy is thriving. Doing business in Panama can be very profitable. Doing business in any foreign country can have its pitfalls. An alternative to a hands-on business in Panama is targeted investment in real estate. With competent local advice such as from ABPanama investment in Panama real estate can tie into the profits from high end sales to wealthy retirees, Panama’s strong tourist industry, and the purchases of Panama’s and all of Latin America’s increasingly well to do middle class.

Investment in real estate in Panama with competent advice such as from ABPanama has proved to be profitable for years. Having someone with local experience manage your real estate portfolio is a wise decision. Investment in Panama real estate and leasing to local businesses avoids any number of problems dealing with local laws and regulations as well as having to sue someone in a foreign country for breach of contract. At the same time Panama commercial real estate investments will grow with Panama’s economy for the foreseeable future.

For more information on real estate investment in Panama contact us at ABPanama. We do business throughout Panama and have over 23 years experience managing real estate portfolios.