Panama marks 10 years since canal handover, cites revenues of $4.75 billion in decade
PANAMA CITY (AP) Panama has made $4.75 billion from the Panama Canal since taking over operations a decade ago, more than twice what it received in the 85 years the United States operated the waterway, the operating authority said Wednesday. Thursday marks the 10th anniversary of the handover of the canal by the U.S., which opened the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in 1914. It is now run by an autonomous government agency, the Panama Canal Authority. "We have demonstrated to the world that we are not only able to operate the canal, but we can do it efficiently and with big benefits for the country," said the authority's head, Alberto Aleman Zubieta. "Today, we serve customers better." The canal charges ships fees for using the waterway, and income from those fees grew from $201 million in 2000 to $780 million in 2009. Panama received a total of $1.83 billion from the canal in the 85 years it was run by the U.S., according to the authority's report. The canal authority is spending $5.25 billion to widen the 50-mile-long (80-kilometer) canal by 2014, because the waterway is too narrow for today's larger freighters. (Editor's Comment: In case you're wondering, $4.75 billion divided by Panama's population of only 3.3 million people, works out to $1,439.39 for every man, woman, and child in the country. This number will grow exponentially once the program to expand the Panama Canal is completed in 2014. The Panamanian economy continues to grow and expand at a rate faster than the growth of population, so (in simplistic terms) over time there will simply be more money for each person. According to numbers from the International Monitary Fund in 2009 Panama's GDP per capital expressed in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) was $11,589, a number they projected to grow to $15,536 by 2014. The economic fundamentals are undeniable - as time goes on eventually Panama will become the richest country in Latin America, and practically nothing can stop that from happening, eventually.)
