report to the nation of President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen January 2, 2021

President announces the increase of the Digital Voucher of B /. 100 to B /. 120 as of February 1 conditional on compliance with the regulations issued by the medical authorities.

* He also announced that starting next April he will convene again the process for the appointment of two new magistrates of the Court.

* The Executive will present a proposal to ensure digital equity in educational centers, the right to free and compulsory education from preschool to middle school.

* Cortizo Cohen also announced the creation of the Institute for Development Planning, the Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology and the equalization of the Colon Free Zone with the Panama-Pacific Special Economic Area.

 

Panama, January 2, 2021. The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen presented his report to the Nation this Saturday, January 2, during the installation ceremony of the second regular session of the National Assembly.

 

At the beginning of what he called "accountability to the Nation", the president said that as a human being and as a Panamanian, the first thing is to express to each one of those who has lost a loved one in this battle, the pain and emptiness that today suffer for their loss, that in many cases they could not even say goodbye and of many families who still have one of their own, fighting for their lives.

 

"As President, believe me, it is the hardest and most difficult daily burden at work that I have to carry out because their sadness, their mourning are shared within the Panamanian family, which is all of us, children of the same country and is part of the same destiny, to face the deepest and most devastating health, social and economic crisis that Panama has experienced, "said the president.

This report to the Nation is different because it marks the differences between the commitments made, the promises kept, the enormous efforts to find the best balance between health, social, economic and the percentage of implementation of the 2020 budget, "and Talking about this balance may seem easy, but to find it requires prudence and in the end, as president, decide the actions to be carried out, "he said.

Cortizo Cohen recalled that upon taking office he committed to 14 priority actions that had to be carried out in the first months of his government. All of them were fulfilled, he said. The first was a new constitutional order presented to the Assembly in July 2019, the approval of a new Public Procurement Law, which reduces the discretion of officials.

The Law of Public Private Associations was also approved to attract investment and create jobs; the Austerity with Efficiency Program was executed; the Glass of Milk Program, which is already 100% nationally produced; We executed the Study Without Hunger Program by buying national production; The Ministry of Culture and the Agency for the Attraction of Investments and Promotion of Exports Pro Panama was created and in this legislature the legislative proposal for the creation of the Authority for the Creation of Pro Panama Investments will be presented, in order to consolidate all efforts to attract good foreign direct investment.

The president recalled that since August 3, 2020, the Opportunity Banking Program was created and is in execution; the Plan Manos a la Obra was established at the district level for the maintenance of road infrastructures; the law was approved that exempts the payment of the transfer tax for the current inventory of houses; the law was approved that extends the preferential interest for homes from 120 thousand to 180 thousand balboas; the Real Estate Leasing Law to facilitate the acquisition of homes for young Panamanians and the Unit for the Competitiveness of International Services was created, the president detailed in his report.

Finally, as announced in that report, the Government managed the financing for late payments to suppliers and contractors of the State, with which it was able to comply.

President Cortizo Cohen reiterated that, in the last two governments without a pandemic, without hurricanes ... the country's public debt tripled, from 11 billion to more than 30 billion. "In other words, those governments increased their debt by 20 billion balboas without having to take emergency actions," he said.

 

This Government assumed the country with a deficit of B /. 2 thousand, 317 million in the 2019 budget and B /. 1,836 million in accounts payable to suppliers and contractors, health workers, teachers, agricultural producers, preferential interest banks, Social Security Fund.

 

Additionally, the responsibility of canceling B /. 1,155 million in past due bonds issued by past administrations, Cortizo Cohen said.

 

"Only those debts not contracted by our government amounted to B /. 5 thousand, 308 million," he added, so it was necessary to resort to foreign debt because Panama does not have a Central Bank, our country cannot print money and for February 2020 current income they had risen 11% above projected.

 

This government has managed 7 thousand 776 million balboas of credit resources according to MEF estimates, which allowed financing the fall in income below the budget of 3 billion balboas and to face the State budget, at 1.696 million of balboas to pay the debt repayments to maintain the subsidy and conditional cash transfer programs for 1,651 million balboas.
He explained that the difference of 1,417 million balboas plus the reduced current income obtained, is what has allowed us to meet the needs of the health system due to the effects of the pandemic, the Panama Solidario Plan, the Digital Vouchers and the Food Bags, aid for victims of natural disasters.

"There can be no health without economy, but neither economy without health," said Cortizo Cohen, referring to COVID 19 in his message, adding that this government was at the forefront of this battle in which difficult decisions have to be made trying to find balance between life, social welfare and economic activity.

He stressed that this is an unprecedented catastrophe and that there are no perfect decisions and that despite the constant efforts of many, the future of this new year lies in the discipline and conduct of each one and that from today that conduct will write the blank page from 2021.
 
Among the social actions highlighted by Cortizo Cohen to face the pandemic, he highlighted the Panama Solidarity Plan (PPS) that delivers food bags, mega bags for the regions, vouchers and digital vouchers benefiting around 1 million, 700 thousand people and It is carried out by a national team of almost 7 thousand collaborators and volunteers.

To date, 4 million, 784 thousand, 495 Solidarity Bags have been delivered for a total of B / .113 million balboas and 3.1 million Physical Bonds for a value of B /. 294 million balboas.
The PPS, which was awarded the Award of Excellence, from the Electronic Government Network of Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the OAS and the IDB, has also disbursed 6.9 million Digital Vouchers that have been credited to the ID with a value assigned of B /. 587 million balboas.

 

"I also announced that as of Monday, February 1 of this year, the Digital Voucher at the national level will be increased from 100 to 120 balboas conditional on compliance with the standards established by the health authorities," said the president.

 

Regarding the actions for the acquisition of vaccines, the President of the Republic pointed out that against all odds Panama has been advancing and within the First Quarter of this new year, the vaccination process will begin in an orderly fashion.

 

"We have committed 56 million balboas to acquire 5 million 500 thousand doses and Panama has ready the logistics, the traceability of the cargo, its arrival, storage, distribution and then the application and monitoring required of the vaccinated people, the inter-institutional teams are organized to the mission "he specified.

 

Regarding the Economic Recovery Plan (PRE) presented to the Nation on July 1 of last year in the National Assembly, he said that its objective is to maintain and generate the greatest number of jobs and gradually recover the economy through 10 areas of action.