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Panama reports high poverty and inequality rates

Panama-pobreza
Panama, Nov 11 (Prensa Latina) Despite favorable macroeconomic indicators, with a growth of up to 15 percent annually, according to international organizations, Panama has high levels of poverty, local media reported on Friday.

An investigation published by La Estrella de Panamá newspaper noted that the general poverty rate in the country, after Covid-19, is estimated at 25 percent, which affects 1.1 million Panamanians in a population of a little more than 4.2 million.

At present, the wealthiest population, which represents 10 percent of the total, earns 37.3 percent of the national income, almost 13 times more than the poorest 40 percent, according to the ‘Annual Report on Poverty and Extreme Poverty in Panama,’ issued by the ‘Panama without Poverty’ initiative and updated this month.

The document points out that, as almost everywhere else in the world, the statistics mainly affect Afro-descendants, women, and peasants, and 90 percent of Panamanians live in poverty in the aboriginal regions.

Due to global inflation, the basic family basket in Panama had risen to 270 dollars a month until May.

Other news sources such as Bloomberg described Panama as the third most expensive nation in Latin America, after Guatemala and Venezuela.

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