Panama Ponders FTA
Impact on Poverty
(Angus Reid Global
Monitor) - Some people
in Panama believe a new
free trade agreement
with the United States
will help the country’s
poor, according to a
poll by Dichter & Neira
published in La Prensa.
38.6 per cent of
respondents think
poverty will decrease
once the deal is
implemented, while 31.6
per cent believe it will
stay the same.
Martín Torrijos - the
son of Omar Torrijos, an
army general who ruled
Panama from 1968 to 1981
- won the May 2004
presidential election as
a candidate for the
Revolutionary Democratic
Party (PRD) with 47.44
per cent of the vote.
On Jun. 28, the U.S. and
Panama signed a free
trade deal that will,
among other things,
eliminate tariffs on
almost 90 per cent of
U.S. consumer and
industrial exports to
Panama.
On Jul. 4, Torrijos
summoned legislators to
hold extraordinary
sessions until Jul. 11
in order to ratify the
treaty. Vice-president
and foreign affairs
minister Samuel Lewis
Navarro told a press
conference that the
cabinet has already
accepted the deal,
adding, "This treaty
will improve our
country’s strategic
position in the region
and will increase
agricultural and
industrial exports into
the United States, which
has 300 million people
with high purchase
power."
Polling Data
Do you expect poverty in
Panama to increase,
decrease or stay the
same after the free
trade agreement with the
United States is in
place?
Increase
- 19.8%
Stay the same -
31.6%
Decrease -
38.6%
Source: Dichter & Neira
/ La Prensa
Methodology: Interviews
with 1,218 Panamanian
adults, conducted from
Jun. 15 to Jun. 17,
2007. Margin of error is
2.9 per cent. |
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