Economic measures by Panama to combat Covid-19, update 7 April 2020
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Economic measures by Panama to combat Covid-19, update 7 April 2020
GENERAL
A. Government of Panama established a National State of Emergency
a. Resolution No. 11 of March 13, 2020
b. Objective: Facilitate resources and promote actions with the arrival and spread of
the coronavirus in Panama
B. Executive Decree No. 472 of March 13, 2020
a. All activities that entail crowds; boarding and disembarking of ships coming from
risk areas; official visits to and from other countries; amongst others, are suspended
IMPORT
C. Elimination of import tax for cleaning products, medical supplies, raw materials, cleaning
installations.
OCCUPATIONAL
D. Executive Decree No. 71 of March 13, 2020
a. Temporal modification of article 159 of the Work Code, in order to adapt the work
days according to the nature of the business in order to avoid spreading of the virus.
Opens space for the temporary modification of the fees (wages) and the work week
(part-time work).
E. Regulation of law that regulates working from home (teletrabajo) in order to incentivize it.
F. Employment contracts (Executive Decree 81 of March 20, 2020,) force majeure and
fortuitous event are a cause for the suspension of employment contracts. This cause can be
used for companies whose operations have been closed by the preventive measures of
COVID-19 force majeure and for closure of a company as a consequence of the closure of
other companies. In both cases the suspension still needs ro be authorized by Ministerio de
Trabajo y Desarrollo Laboral (Mitradel)
FISCAL
G. Extension of payment of taxes 2019 to DGI (Executive Decree 251 of March 24, 2020) such
as Income Tax, Complementary, Notice of Operation, Property Tax, Rate, Unique, ITBMS.
Extended until July 17, 2020 (instead of 31 March 2020). Only to companies that do not
reduce staff.
H. Extension of tax amnesty law to June 30, 2020
I. Extend payment arrangements that can be applied to December 31, 2020
J. Postpone and extend deadlines for presenting income statement to May 30, 2020
K. Extend one more year the tax exemption for starting micro and small enterprises (from 2 to
3 year via APMYE).
FINANCIAL SECTOR
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650L. A contribution of $1.2 billion to the Banking Superintendence for the establishment of
temporal measures that permit finance institutions have more liquidity with the purpose of
stimulating credit facilities to support the private sector
M. Banking Superintendence dictates temporary measures to modify credit terms and
conditions
a. “Modified loans” allow clients to adapt their payment obligations and mitigate a
possible deterioration of their credit
b. Banks will be able to check the terms and conditions of loans regarding interest
rates and installments and grant grace periods
c. Adjustments will be made depending on the reality of each debtor
d. Modifications can be made by request of the clients or through the banks’ initiatives
e. Banks have 120 days to make the evaluations of their clients
f. Loan modifications will not generate extra costs and will be exempted from
commissions and new appraisals.
N. Certain local banks have granted payment postponements of 2 to 4 months for local
investors
O. Caja de Ahorros has postponed payments for 90 days in capital, interests, FECI to more than
60k mortgages and people. They will be revising commercial loans to offer measures to
those cases that apply.
HEALTH
P. Ministry of Work and Work Development emits protocol to preserve hygiene and health at
work in order to prevent spread of Covid-19
a. Resolution No. DM-137-2020 of March 16, 2020
b. Objective: Provide guidelines to companies and employees to prevent the spread of
Covid-19.
OTHER
Q. Suspension of all public procurement procedures that were ongoing (RESOLUCIÓN N°DGCP-
DS-056-2020 by Dirección General de Contrataciones Públicas. The resolucion does not
cancel the ongoing procedures, but suspends them untill further notice.
R. The Inter-American Development Bank Group has announced support in four areas:
a. Immediate response for public health
b. Security networks for vulnerable populations
c. Economic productivity and employment
d. Fiscal policies to alleviate economic impacts
S. $100 million loan with IADB in order to promote tourism
T. On the 25th of March, Panama received a $41 million loan from the World bank for
development policies. This loan entails a contingent credit that allows for preparation for
disasters.
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650Dutch government Covid-19 instruments for enterpreneurs
Please find the Embassy’s latest travel advice for Panama here:
https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/documenten/vragen-en-antwoorden/reisadvies-panama
Instruments for trade and doing business abroad:
• The Dutch government has decided to extend the measures taken to combat the Corona-
virus until 28 April 2020.
• For this reason the period in which RVO will not actively communicate about new activities
such as trade missions, trade fair participation and other events, is also extended from 6
April until 28 April 2020.
• Exporting companies with ongoing activities in foreign markets will have access to
information via RVO (telephone and website incl. country specific QandA’s). Customized
assistance will be made available in cooperation with relevant diplomatic missions in case of
more complex queries.
• Large scale physical events, trade missions and trade fair participation that were planned for
June, July and August 2020 will be cancelled;
• All planned activities (missions, fairs and conferences) in the months September until
December 2020 will collectively be re-evaluated.
Export credit insurance (Atradius)
Dutch state business Atradius is extending certain conditions of its export credit insurances:
• Enabling coverage on short-term export credits < 2 years;
• Insuring indirect export transactions
• Extending country policies and country ceilings
• Offering ECG (export credit guarantees) on existing loans
• Increasing the percentage covered on counter-guarantees and working capital insurance
• Removal of the 5% downpayment requirement
• Speed up processes by Fast tracking the approval process.
Starters International Business (SIB)
• All vouchers: all vouchers close to their end date will automatically be extended with the
standard 6 months. Entrepreneurs will no longer have to request this extension themselves.
• Mission vouchers: entrepreneurs that have already incurred costs for participation in
missions, that have consequently been cancelled because of the Corona-crisis, can invoice
incurred costs using their mission vouchers up to 50% of the total costs, following the
regular procedures.
• Coaching vouchers: there are currently on-going coaching trajectories in which vouchers
have been applied for by/provided to companies who struggle and may not survive the
Corona-crisis. This will impact the SIB-coaches involved, often small entrepreneurs
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650themselves, who have made concrete contributions in terms of ongoing coaching
trajectories. In these cases, the coaches involved will be compensated in proportion to the
efforts and input they have provided, even though the coaching trajectory may not have
been completed by the benefitting company.
• Coaching vouchers; applications for coaching vouchers keep coming in. Instead of face-to-
face coaching, more long-distance models such as video-conferencing are used, considering
the current circumstances. This is in itself a valuable development, but at the same time, it
is important to monitor and guarantee the quality of the coaching trajectory. The trajectory
should be in the interest of the benefitting company and not just benefit the SIB-coaches
interests. RVO will put more effort in contacting benefitting companies to check and ensure
that their needs are met. At the same time, this will generate additional knowledge about
the participating companies, as well as the current issues they cope with. All exchanges with
companies in this regard will be documented in Achilles.
Demonstration projects, Feasibity studies and Investment preparation studies (DHI)
New applications and quick scans are still coming in for DHI. An inventory of ongoing projects
shows that in many cases it is uncertain how projects will proceed and/or what the impact of
the Corona-crisis will be, depending on the local situation in the targeted market. A general
conclusion is that in many cases the current situation will lead to delays, postponement or even
cancellation of projects. The following measures will be taken in these events:
• A pragmatic and lenient approach will be taken with respect to delays and/or requests to
adapt project set-ups in case of ongoing projects, within reasonable limits and based upon
proposals by the applicant entrepreneur;
• In cases where awarded subsidies need to be returned, at the close of a project or due to
cancellation, leniency will also be applied to a maximum (i.e. repayment schedules). In
dealing with these cases, maximum attention and minimal processing time may be expected
of RVO;
• In case of new applications, RVO will contact the entrepreneurs involved and carefully look
at reasonable and realistic starting dates of the projects, including advance payments, on a
case by case basis. The objective will remain to implement DHI as best and as speedily as
possible. At the same time, DHI is not meant as an instrument to solve general cash flow
problems. There has to be a link between the start of advance payments and the real start
of the project.
Partners International Business (PIB)
PIB-programs are multi-annual programs, built-up of different activities over time, such as visits,
seminars and K2K/G2G activities. All of these activities are currently on hold, but in the short
term, it is not expected that this will impact ongoing programs in a major way. Certain situations
may occur regarding PIB-programs, for which the following measures will apply:
• Activities can not be implemented as foreseen within the planned duration of ongoing PIB-
programs, in which case leniency will applied with respect to the duration of programs. If
necessary and in close consultation with stakeholders involved, programs can be extended.
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650• Extensions will in general be budget-neutral. In some cases extension may mean that
additional budget is required, for instance to fund the local liaison (i.e. consultant hired by
missions). Needs and requirements in this respect will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
• Already ongoing purchase orders/tenders within the K2K framework, will be postponed or
cancelled in line with applicable purchase conditions.
• There are cases where stakeholders may want to end their involvement in a PIB-program. It
may be that stakeholders experience financial problems (or bankruptcy) themselves and/or
changing priorities after the Corona-crisis and/or shifting opportunities in the targeted
market. For some participants in PIB-programs, circumstances may require termination of
their participation, observing the notice period agreed upon. The remaining stakeholders
will then be given extra time to engage new partners in the PIB-program, in order to
guarantee the required minimum number of participants.
• In other cases the PIB-coordinator (private secretary) may want to end involvement in a PIB-
program, because of falling income resulting from reduced PIB-activities or stakeholder
participation. In the first instance, a solution will then be proposed by the private parties
involved. There may be another secretary available or an increased contribution may be
made by other parties. If deemed necessary and appropriate, given the potential of the PIB-
partnership and its socio-economic impact, RVO may consider financial support toward the
coordinator, under limited and strict conditions.
Dutch Trade and Investment Fund (DTIF)/Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF)
• For existing customers: availability of (more) working capital under DTIF/DGGF. In concrete
terms, this means that the Dutch government can advance drafts under DTIF before delivery
to the buyer in order to meet the working capital needs of the Dutch exporter. For this
purpose, a number of conditions have to be met, among others the requirement that the
bank of the Dutch exporter cannot provide sufficient credit during the execution of the
underlying export transaction.
• Also: possibility for 6 months longer timeframe for repayment of loans and interest
payments from DTIF/DGGF.
Trade missions, trade fair participation and other events
In view of uncertainties around the Corona outbreak and developments in other countries, as
well as limited possibilities to immediately restart activities after April 28, all trade missions,
trade fair participations and other events planned until August 2020 will be postponed or
cancelled. As longs as the MFA Travel Advice indicates a code orange for all countries around
the world, no trade missions, trade fair participation or other events abroad will be organized.
Strategic Trade Fair Participation (SBP)
In case of postponement of a trade fair participation approved under the Strategic Trade Fairs
program, the budget will remain available for the next calendar year. In cases where trade fairs
have been cancelled altogether, such as the Hannover Messe, the budget for 2020 is cancelled.
If organized again in 2021 such trade fairs can be considered for programming in 2021,
according to priority.
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650Instruments within the Netherlands (Binnenlandse regelingen, in Dutch):
• Verruimde BMKB-regeling https://www.rvo.nl/actueel/nieuws/coronavirus-verruimde-
bmkb-regeling-voor-ondernemers-versneld-open
• De tijdelijke Noodmaatregel Overbrugging Werkgelegenheid (NOW)
https://www.uwv.nl/werkgevers/actueel/now.aspx?friendlyurl=/werkgevers/actueel/noodf
onds-overbrugging-werkgelegenheid-now.aspx
• Belastingmaatregelen voor ondernemers (inclusief
zzp’ers) https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/nl/ondernemers/content/coron
avirus-belastingmaatregelen-om-ondernemers-te-helpen
• Garantie Ondernemingsfinanciering https://www.rvo.nl/subsidie-en-
financieringswijzer/garantie-ondernemingsfinanciering-go
Relevant websites for more information:
• MKB Nederland https://www.mkb.nl/corona
• Rijksdienst van Ondernemend Nederland
RVO https://www.rvo.nl/coronavirus/veelgestelde-vragen-zakendoen-en-coronavirus-land
• Atradius Dutch State Business https://atradiusdutchstatebusiness.nl/en/
• Buitenlandse Zaken https://www.nederlandwereldwijd.nl/reizen/reisadviezen
• RIVM https://www.rivm.nl/coronavirus
• KVK https://ondernemersplein.kvk.nl/coronavirus-wegwijzer-voor-ondernemers/
Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Panama: PAN-EA@minbuza.nl +507 280 6650You can also read
