The mayor of Panama, Mayer Mizrachi, denounced that the central government would be retaining resources that by law must be transferred to the municipalities, a situation that —according to him— is directly affecting the operational and financial capacity of the mayor's offices throughout the country. His statements came after a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), from which he said he left frustrated for not receiving a clear explanation about the destination of the funds corresponding to decentralization. "I just came out of a meeting with the MEF, where frustratingly for me they gave me a null response, as to why the State is keeping the money from the country's municipalities," the mayor stated on his social networks. Mizrachi questioned why the funds are not being distributed as established by current regulations and pointed out that, in practice, the State would be using these resources as a source of financing at no cost. "Why don't they distribute the decentralization funds to the country?, why are they keeping them and effectively financing the State at 0% interest with money from local governments? The law says so," he said. The mayor expressed that, despite these cuts, the municipality has maintained its operation "purely out of sheer will and conviction," but considers it contradictory that the central government does not comply with the established transfers. "It is very frustrating when the way you reward that fiscal and administrative responsibility is by taking away the work tools from that local government," he said. Mizrachi warned that if the Panama City Hall faces difficulties in operating, the situation could be more critical in districts in the interior of the country. "And the only thing I can think of is if the municipality of Panama is like this, with its nails. It is illegal not to do so," he stated. The pronouncement comes days after the mayor warned about cuts in decentralization, ensuring that although the collection of the Real Estate Tax (IBI) has increased, the distribution to the municipalities has decreased. According to figures cited in that public complaint, between 2021 and 2026 the State would have collected more than 1,100 million dollars for the concept of IBI, but would have only transferred about 618 million to local governments. Mizrachi maintained that this situation is even more worrying due to the adjustments that, he said, his administration has applied to reduce expenses and operate with limited resources. "In my administration we cut all [Toyota Land Cruiser] Prados, because there was no money. We cut the budget 33%. That is not correct. It's frustrating!" he assured.
