Panama approves $26 million budget transfer to maintain fuel subsidies for transport operators

Panama’s National Assembly Budget Commission approved a $26 million budget transfer to sustain fuel subsidies for the country’s transport sectors.

Economy Vice Minister Eida Gabriela Saiz told the commission that the measure responds to continuing increases in international oil prices. Panama depends heavily on imported hydrocarbons, so those external price movements directly affect the local economy.

Saiz described the increase as an extraordinary external shock that had not been included in the state’s general budget. The Economy and Finance Ministry and the Cabinet Council therefore introduced a support scheme whose conditions are reviewed and restored every two weeks.

The contingency plan covers freight and passenger operators, with the aim of preventing fuel increases from feeding into collective bus fares and passenger costs. It also supports the transport of essential goods, in an effort to slow increases in the basic food basket. A targeted component provides assistance to artisanal fishing.

The government says the approved transfer will help cushion external inflationary pressures and protect Panamanian household budgets.