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Archive for the ‘Investment’ Category

It is time to invest now. With the financial crisis which may come in a sudden, it is best for us to invest our money in real estate properties. It will give us more profit since people will always look for a house as their shelter.

The thing that we need to do now is finding the best Seattle Property Management company to help us dealing with the process in investing our money. We need to visit Allpropertymanagement.com as soon as possible because the website will tell us where to find the company which suits our need and requirement. On the website we can find the company based on the type of the property that we plan to buy or based on the ZIP code that we can find the company close to where we are living now. The website also provides us with the free quote that we can make a good choice in dealing with the management company.

The website will always available for us. But, if we keep delaying to use its service, we may not get the maximum benefit by investing our money in real estate properties. So, we’d better make a move to find the best management company for our investment now.

Agriculture
For centuries, agriculture was the dominant economic activity for most of Panama’s population. After construction of the Panama Canal, agriculture declined; its share of GDP fell from 29 percent in 1950 to just over 9 percent in 1985. Currently, agriculture and fisheries comprise 7.4% of the country’s GDP. Panama is a net food importer and the U.S. by far, is its main supplier. Though for many years, Panamanian agriculture remained poorly conditioned, after the 1970s, agriculture became mechanized as industrialization became more intensified.

Taxation
Taxation in Panama, which is governed by the Fiscal Code, is on a territorial basis; this is to say, that taxes apply only to income or gains derived through business carried on in Panama itself. The existence of a sales or administration office in Panama, or the re-invoicing of external transactions at a profit, does not of itself give rise to taxation if the underlying transactions take place outside Panama. Dividends paid out of such earnings are free of taxation.
In February, 2005, Panama¡¯s unicameral legislature approved a major fiscal reform package in order to raise revenues from new business taxes, and reduce the country¡¯s level of debt. The legislature voted 46 to 28 in favour of the measures, which include a new 1.4% tax on companies¡¯ gross revenues, and a 1% levy on firms operating in the Colon Free Trade Zone ¨C the largest free port in the Americas.
In July, 2005, all firms which prior to 2005 were exempt from value added tax in Panama are affected by a new interpretation of the country’s Tax Code by the tax authorities. In a little publicised move, Panama¡¯s Revenue Office circulated a series of opinions which stated that the recent tax reform has abolished all VAT exemptions and special treatment given prior to February 2005.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Panama’s growth fluctuated with the vagaries of the world economy. After 1973, economic expansion slowed considerably as the result of a number of international and domestic factors (see Recent Economic Performance , this ch.). Real GDP growth averaged 3.5 percent a year between 1973 and 1979. In the early 1980s, the economy rebounded with GDP growth rates of 15.4 percent in 1980, 4.2 percent in 1981, and 5.6 percent in 1982. The acute recession in Latin America after 1982, however, wreaked havoc on Panama’s economy. GDP growth in 1983 was a mere 0.4 percent; in 1984 it was negative 0.4 percent. In 1985 Panama experienced economic recovery with 4.1-percent GDP growth; the corresponding figure for 1986 was estimated to be 2.8 percent.

Since taking office in 1994 President Ernesto Perez Balladares advanced an economic liberalization program designed to liberalize the trade regime, attract foreign investment, privatize state-owned enterprises, institute fiscal discipline and privatized its two ports in 1997 and approved the sale of the railroad in early assets. Panama joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a banking reform law was approved by the legislature in early 1998 and dismantled the Central bank. After two years of near stagnation the reforms began to take root; GDP grew by 3.6% in 1997 and grew by more than 6% in 1998. The most important sectors which drove growth were the Panama Canal and the shipping and port activities of The Colon Free Zone which also rebounded from a slow year in 1996.

Economic growth will, from the 2009 onwards, be bolstered by the Panama Canal expansion project that began in 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by 2014 at a cost of $5.3 billion – about 25% of current GDP. The expansion project will more than double the Canal’s capacity, enabling it to accommodate ships that are now too large to transverse the transoceanic crossway, and should help to reduce the high unemployment rate. Strong economic performance has reduced the national poverty level to 29% in 2008; however, Panama has the second most unequal income distribution in Latin America. The government has implemented tax reforms, as well as social security reforms, and backs regional trade agreements and development of tourism. Not a CAFTA signatory, Panama in December 2006 independently negotiated a free trade agreement with the US, which, when implemented, will help promote the country’s economic growth.