During his usual press conference, President José Raúl Mulino sent messages to two groups. On the one hand, he expressed optimism that the country's situation will improve because order has been restored to public finances. At the same time, he asked people to turn a deaf ear to the birds of ill omen and unnecessary, hypocritical criticism.
On the positive side, the president echoed the projections made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding Panama's growth for the coming year. The head of state acknowledged that a year ago, besides his desire to work, all he had before him was the «uncertainty» that 2025 would bring due to the enormous challenges he and his team had to face.
«Beyond meeting macroeconomic targets, the government's priority is to improve the population's quality of life, and we will achieve this through the management led by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Felipe Chapman,» he stated.
«According to the IMF, growth will be more than double the average for the American continent,» the president pointed out.
According to Mulino, Minister Chapman took on this heavy problem, and with his professional team, he has managed to restore financial, fiscal, and economic order to the country's delight.
«Forget the birds of ill omen, the unnecessary and sometimes very hypocritical criticism from people who would like the country to fail so that I fail, but I am not going to give them that pleasure,» Mulino said.
«The country is not going to fail, and I am not going to fail either as the president of all Panamanians,» Mulino added, drawing applause from the members of his cabinet who accompanied him to Bugaba to inaugurate a series of projects.
«We have saved the Social Security Fund, which was my biggest challenge for 2025, and I hope that the CSS and the Ministry of Health integrate harmoniously so that it becomes another goal for 2026,» he maintained.
