[LINK] "Panama's Prosperity Has a Dark Side"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg View'a Mac Margolis reports about hidden corruption and crime in Panama.

Last year was one most of Latin America would rather forget. The region trailed the world in economic growth, led on inflation, and posted the highest fiscal deficit after the Middle East and North Africa, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

So two cheers for Panama. The fastest-growing economy in the Americas expanded by almost 6 percent in 2015, compared with a nearly 1 percent drop for Latin America as a whole, and it will likely repeat that performance this year, according to the World Bank.

Cue the applause for the expanded Panama Canal, which -- by the time the overhaul is finished, expected to be later this year -- will double shipping capacity and allow for much larger container ships to traverse the waterway, consolidating the country's historical role as an entrepot for the global economy. The anticipated knock-on effects already have studded this slender country of 4 million people with skyscrapers and grand public-works projects.

The breakneck pace of the project, which began in 2007, has come at a price. Bribery, graft and dirty politics are all too common in Latin America, but a noxious combination of the three has dogged the Central American dynamo in what ought to be its finest hour. And unless Panama can shake the curse, its glory may prove fleeting.