Panama City is a thoroughly modern, high-rise, business-center city of ~1.25MM people, about 1/3 – 1/2 of the total population of Panama. The pace of the city is breathtaking.  They are building high-rise condos like in Miami Florida only much faster…..everybody’s dream/retirement home on the ocean.  Outside of P.C. and even on the outskirts of P.C. things are much different, less opulent; but there is obviously a lot of optimism and potential across this country.  There is a can-do attitude expressed here, and they are certainly taking advantage of the current great flow of credit around the world to offer luxury retirement and second-home facilities to all who want to come here.

Even ‘The Donald’ is building a ‘super-luxurious’ condominium tower right on the beach; and has plans to dredge the bay out for a marina to be attached. All of this will continue and prosper unless any economic ‘events’ occur which dry up the huge amount of global liquidity in the markets. In that event, Panama City will look much like Bangkok did right after the S.E. Asian currency crisis, with dozens of high-rise buildings sitting empty, silent cranes on their roofs and construction stopped.

They have some of the most creative policies I’ve ever read to lure the American, their main target with 72% of the total resident retirees.  They give lifetime ½ priced movie pass to all Americans retiring here.  You can ‘buy’ Panamanian residency by making an investment is any of several government-sponsored re-forestation projects (which I’d suspect qualify for EU carbon-credits also).  I think there is a 20-year reduction or elimination of property taxes for retirees and tax-free pension and other incentives.