Investment in Panama with Horacio Estribi

Panama is famous for its canal, but the country's economic story runs much deeper. In this episode, LATAM FDI sits down with Horacio Estribi — a former public servant and national and international consultant with a master's from Harvard's Kennedy School and 35 years across government, banking, and academia — to unpack how foreign direct investment has shaped Panama and where it needs to go next.Estribi walks through the sectors that built Panama's growth model: logistics, ports, real estate, banking, and tourism, plus the canal's Panamax expansion. He explains the SEM multinational headquarters regime that drew nearly 200 regional HQs — Mars, Dell, Nestlé, BMW, Procter & Gamble, Samsung — and why connectivity, a dollarized economy, and a flexible immigration system matter as much as tax incentives. Success stories like the Colón Free Zone and Panama Pacific round out the picture.But the heart of the conversation is candid: Panama is still growing, just more slowly, and Estribi argues it's time to evolve — toward knowledge, innovation, the digital economy, and even semiconductor supply chains. He points to lessons from Costa Rica, the need to train bilingual talent in AI and problem-solving, and the shift from fiscal perks to one-stop-shop efficiency and less bureaucracy.A clear-eyed look at what's worked, what's changing, and how investors can plug in.