Bread price skyrockets
The price of bread increased by 20% to 40%. The popular“michita” could cost US$0.10 more, which would represent an increase of 100% per unit.

Petroterminal to stay
The Republic of Panama will become the majority shareholder of the company Petroterminal de Panama S.A. (PTP), once this company gives 15% of its share capital to the Nation which will increase the government holding from 44% to 59%. The assignment is part of the new contract, agreed for 20 years between the Nation, PTP and the oil transporter Northville Industries Corp., which is being discussed in the National Assembly in second debate. The Assembly approved the three amendments to the contract between the Nation, Northville Industries Corp. and Petroterminal de Panama (PTP), the operators of the transisthmian pipeline between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, which extended its presence until 2036. Despite the unanimous government support, the opposition bench, through its spokesman, Jose Blandon Figueroa, expressed reservations in view of the fact that PTP in 1995 vowed to build a port on the Pacific, and to date, he said, it has not been done.

Europe and U.S. banana sales
The Panamanian banana exports of the Multiple Services Cooperative of Puerto Armuelles (Coosemupar) took another step in its conquest of the European market. The first 225,000 boxes of bananas bought by an Italian company that received them in the Centre Distribuzione, Tuscany satisfied buyers and there was no objection to quality said their representative in Panama, Alfonso Cuomo. The U.S. market was also targeted. The Panama Stock Exchange (Baisa) closed the sale of 416,477 boxes of bananas from the Cooperative to the company Latin Fruit Co.. of the United States, for US$2,707,000

Animal Planet finds frogs
Jeff Corwin, a biologist and presenter of the TV program “Animal Planet”, came to Panama for the first phase of filming a documentary about the rapid disappearance throughout the world of frogs, including Panama´s golden frog. Between 2004 and 2007 only eight golden frogs were found in the area of El Copé, Coclé province, but Corwin and his team found 15 frogs and golden young adult frogs in natural surroundings.

New head for HSBC
As of May 1, the reins of HSBC Bank (Panama) and First American Bank (Banistmo) will no longer be in the hands of the well-known banker Joseph Salterio. The English financial group which controls the banks announced the appointment of Brazilian, Ernesto Carlos Fernandes, who has been a banker for 48 years. In 2006 HSBC bought Banistmo for US$1,770 million.

Retiree discounts
The full Legislative Assembly approved a bill that grants a 20% discount on the value of medicines for pensioners and retirees. It also approved a 100% discount for the registration in the Public Registry of boards, certifications and registrations of new companies of nonprofit organizations of retirees, pensioners and senior citizens.

Central American roaming
The roaming cellular telephone service for prepaid customers to and from Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, was activated by the company Telefonica Movistar. At the cost of US$0.75 a minute for incoming and outgoing calls, the prepaid customer can communicate from any Central American country in which Telefonica operates, explained Iveth Gonzales, a specialist in roaming for Movistar.

Causeway debt
It was reported in a daily newspaper that bad debts accumulated by the concessions granted on the Amador Causeway reached US$18,046,892 at the end of March. A report of the Reverted Property Management Unit revealed that of the 13 tenants of the area, eight maintain accounts in arrears. Three former administrators of the defunct Interoceanic Region Authority (ARI) agree that the government should renegotiate existing contracts with the 13 companies. The high debt is due to the lack of “administrative responsibility” by public authorities said Alfredo Arias, who headed the authority between 1999 and 2004.

Balbina resigns
Minister of Housing, Balbina Herrera Araúz resigned her post to run as a presidential candidate for the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD).

Speeding the Canal queue
The regular maintenance work on the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks on the Panama Canal was suspended by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to expedite the passage of ships that have been kept waiting at the anchorage. Last week there were 98 ships lined up at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances waiting to make their transists.

Human Trafficking
A daily newspaper reported that human trafficking, the most profitable illicit business after drug trafficking, earns the gangs engaged in these activities in Panama over a billion US dollars a year. Gangs are difficult to detect, because they use the 34 sea routes that exist in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They generally enter the country at night and the early morning.

HSBC loses data on 370,000 clients
In an unusual admission, the banking group HSBC admitted the loss of a computer diskette containing details of 370,000 customers, but claimed that the possibility of fraud is limited. One source of the bank in Panama said that this incident is linked only to information from European customers and that in no way could it affect Panama.

Slower economy would be good
A more moderate growth for Panama could be beneficial, says the chief economist for emerging markets of the BBVA banking group, Alicia Garcia-Herrero. For Panama it would not be entirely negative to have “a somewhat lower rate of growth”. This would offset the inflationary pressure created by the rapid economic growth and rising costs of raw materials, she explained.

Case of the president´s uncle continues
The criminal trial for an alleged environmental crime continues against president Martin Torrijos´uncle, Charro Rodolfo Espino, for the devastation of 38 hectares of coastal mangroves at Punta Chame, in the west of the province of Panama, despite the fact that Espino and the brothers Fernando and Idania Fontane reached a settlement in which, among other things, Fontane withdrew from he lawsuit on the environmental crime in which he and Idania acted as complainants.

Italians in Panama
The 304,000 Italians resident in Panama, who are registered on the electoral rolls of Italy and were registered for the elections of April 13 and 14, were invited to exercise their right to vote via mail, said the Embassy of Italy in a press release.

Bets are on for KLM
The CEO of KLM, Peter Hartman, said he bets that in two to three years this company will have daily flights from Amsterdam to Panama instead of three times a week, the present schedule which has been resumed after some years in absence.

Consumer Support
The Consumer Support Program (CAP), which is being discussed in the National Assembly, includes the expansion of preferential mortgage interest and the reduction of the rates of income tax (ISR) paid by employees earning between US$800 and US$ 2,390 a month. These measures will cost the state US$55.7 million in 2009.