Rising Cost of Living

As you come to land at Panama City's Tocumen airport there are two very striking things (at least, I always find them striking). Firstly, as you loook from the plane you can see, spread out over the sea a vast number of ships of all sorts and sizes. It reminds me of when I played with Dinky toys as a child.  These ships are all waiting for their turn to pass through the famous Panama Canal. In fact, there are now two Panama Canals - parallel to each other, they both cross the isthmus that is Panama and are both very busy. The second canal, only inaugurated in the last few years, was built to accomodate the new breed of "Super Ships" (we have all heard of the Super Tankers, but there are more than tankers) which have become increasinly common in recent years.

Both canals operate 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, and there is still a queue. Their passage will have been arranged for up to seven years before the actual journey is made and the ships that are waiting will often have arrived several weeks before they will pass through the lock gates of the canal - it's just too expensive to miss your slot.

The other striking thing is the quantity of obviously very modern skyscrapers that abound in the city. These are not just the standard office block type of building, some are very elaborate - one is built in the shape of a spiral and is known as "The Screw". These buildings are evidence of a great deal of wealth and of economic success.

However, they mask a rather sadder reality. While there is a middle class in Panama it is small and under huge financial pressure to make ends meet. The cost of living here is high relative to the income. A basic wage in the city is $600 a month; a teacher will get around $1,000. However, when you consider that many of the prices of commodities is similar to their cost in Ireland where people earn more, you can begin to see the problem.

Then there is a huge percentage of the population who, if they don't live in abject poverty (and there are many of them too), live in a situation where things that Irish people take for granted like medicine and clothing are a source of struggle and, especially in the area of medicine where the Seguro Social (see earlier post on health care) doesn't work, means that many people don't get the treatment they both need and deserve.

Even though people are struggling prices appear to continue to climb. I have noticed myself that everyday supermarket items have become very expensive. I haven't been buying groceries but I have bought toiletries - shaving gel $15; sun block (an essential here) $26; shower gel $9. Imported foodstuffs have sky rocketed in price and even locally produced food has gone up. While waiting in the supermarket queue I was struck that most people with about a half a trolley load of groceries were paying between $65 and $90. When you multiply that by 4 (four weeks in a month) and factor in things like rent and transport, you get a picture of how difficult it must be to make ends meet.