Panama Business Group Calls for Targeted Review of Discounts for Retirees

Panama’s business community is not asking to remove discounts for older people, but it wants the benefits recalculated before they take effect. Aurelio Barría Pino, president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama, said the group supports a technical forum to assess the bill’s real impact.

The National Assembly recently approved Bill 226, which expands existing benefits, adds new discounts and increases some current ones for retirees, pensioners and older people. Cciap has urged President José Raúl Mulino to veto the bill as a whole, while arguing that the proposal could then be revised through a more detailed assessment.

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It's not vetoing for the sake of vetoing.

“It's not vetoing for the sake of vetoing,” Barría said in an interview with TVN Noticias. He said the proposed technical forum should include all affected sectors and examine three issues: how discounts could affect prices for the wider population, how they would affect micro and small businesses, and what they could mean for the state’s ability to collect revenue.

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We need to be able to calculate the impact this could have on small businesses.

Barría said small businesses could be especially exposed because they already cover payroll, rent, energy, supplies, financing and taxes. The bill’s proposed 100% tax credit also concerns the chamber. Barría said the credit would not necessarily provide immediate cash to businesses, even though shops would have to apply discounts every day. The costs could accumulate during the year and later become tax credits that reduce some businesses’ payments to the state.

He also warned that restaurants, pharmacies, hostels and other small establishments might respond by cutting margins or raising prices. “This could create an inflationary effect, with prices going up,” Barría said.

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This could create an inflationary effect, with prices going up.