Panama Canal Has Paid $7 Billion Dollars to State Treasury Over 13 Years

From 2000 to 2012 the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has provided to the State $7.323 billion dollars in fees paid, excesses, and public services, according to projections by the entity. This amount includes $950 million in contributions to the State budget for the fiscal year running from 1 Oct 2011 through 30 Sept 2012. In 13 years of Panamanian administration, the Canal will have delivered $3.312 billion in "rights per ton," $3.828 billion in surpluses, and $182.4 million for public services (trash collection payments and others). ACP's budget for 2012 amounts $2.398 billion dollars, more than $200 million more when compared to the previous year, when it as $2.106 billion.

HISTORICAL RECORD - According to the ACP administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta, all projections indicate that in this fiscal year (2010-2011) the Panama Canal "broke a historic record" in both revenue and contributions to the National Treasury. "We estimated contributions of $840 million dollars, which we will overcome and we will be closer to $1 billion dollars," he said. Although the Panama Canal Expansion Program is running, this has not affected the passage of ships using the canal, said Alberto Alemán Zubieta, who highlighted the work carried out by the ACP to achieve these historical records. (La Prensa)

Editor's Comment: How to look at these numbers: The Panama Canal's operating budget for 2012 will be $2.398 billion dollars - money paid to the ACP in the form of tolls collected from passing ships. This is the best kind of money there is for a national economy, fresh, new, and coming from somewhere else. Practically all of that money gets spent right here in Panama and it quickly cycles back through the Panamanian national economy. It includes every employee's paycheck, for example, and they trot right down to the Rey supermarket and spend it on corn flakes or what have you, just like the rest of us. It also includes supplies and expendables, stuff like fuel and tires and what have you. They buy all of those things from local suppliers. So, most of the ACP's annual budget get's spent locally. This year the Panama Canal will be giving about $1 billion dollars to the state treasury. Again, this is a wonderful thing for the Panamanian economy, and that's enough money to pay the annual operating budgets of several of the government's Ministries, all by itself. And once the expansion program is complete the annual operating budget will be more than $3 billion per year and the canal will be generating more than $2 billion per year for the treasury. Most importantly, the economy of Panama is relatively tiny so this numbers have a big impact. And, the population of Panama is also relatively small, so improvements to the overall economy are felt. And before you tell me that "this money does not trickle down" spend some time to understand the GDP per capita (PPP) and see how it's been steadily improving since Panama took over management of the Panama Canal. The bottom line is the Panama Canal is one of the most significant economic engines behind the impressive growth of the Panamanian economy in the past decade.