Casco Viejo is the oldest city on the Pacific Coast of the Americas, and lies at the foot of the Panama Canal on one side and Panama City on the other. Nowadays, Casco Viejo is acknowledged as the city's most recognizable suburb, located in the district of San Felipe. While this historic community has lost it's economic importance with the expansion of Panama City, Casco Viejo continues to appear in songs, poems, videos, television commercials, and other elements of the city's daily life. Moreover, the area now serves as one of the country's most popular tourist attractions, frequented by tourist guides and photographers alike.

Casco Viejo, perhaps a commercial point in the past, is now a major tourist destination for those visiting Panama. Terrific photographic opportunities exist, particularly for those interested in architectural structures. Located just minutes from downtown Panama City, this historic community is just minutes in a taxi.

To walk through Casco Viejo is definitely to walk through history. Buildings sitting side by side can be over three hundred years apart in age. Balconies are filled with flowers such as geraniums and bougainvillea wrapped around sculpted wrought iron crafted in another century, The streets are brick, and no matter which way they run, they run to the sea, because Casco Viejo is surrounded by sea.

Investment Incentives:

1. Former laws in force in Casco Antiguo are modified in order to extend the protection area, so it could include part of the neighborhood of Santa Ana, Salsipuedes, and part of the Terraplén.
2. The classification of the protected properties is developed in detail, together with the usage and type of restoration that will be permitted to carry out in such properties, depending on their architectural, historical, and environmental characteristics.
3. A system of mortgage loans with preferred interests is established for the restoration of real estate in the area of San Felipe.
4. The property owners in Casco Antiguo will be exempt from paying the Real Estate Tax owed at the moment of the transfer (sale) of the property.
5. The profits derived from the transfer of real estate will be exempt from paying the Income Tax.
6. The land and improvements of restored buildings will be exempt from paying the Real Estate Tax for a period of thirty (30) years counted as from the restoration of the property.
7. The first sale or sales that take place after the completion of the building´s restoration will be exempt from the Real Estate Transfer Tax.
8. The profits generated by commercial, professional or industrial activities which are carried out and have their effects in the Casco Antiguo, are exempt from the Income Tax for ten (10) years counted from the restoration of the occupied property.
9. The equipment and materials used in the construction, restoration, and equipping, will be exempt from the Import Duties.
10. The tenants of the properties in Casco Antiguo can deduct from their Income Tax the rates of rental for a period of five (5) years.
11. Those buildings destined for public parking will be exempt from the Income Tax for a period of ten (10) years.
12. An indemnity payment is established for those tenants of apartments in Casco Antiguo who must vacate the property because of a restoration project. The restoration project developer will receive a transferable fiscal credit with a value equivalent to the payment done.
13. In order to benefit from these incentives, the investments must be made during the ten (10) years following the establishment of the Decree-Law, that is, until August 2007.

Additional Resources:

• Real Estate in Casco Viejo
• History of Casco Viejo

According to Journey Latin America, South and Central America is one of the most beautiful, dramatic and exciting continents in the world. Panama has been included in their top 10 destinations for 2008.

Panama's combinations of jungle and beach, accessible from Panama City, set to wow holidaymakers, thanks in part to a new KLM route to the country starting in April 2008.

By Joachim Bamrud

Brazil and Mexico may be getting most of the foreign investor attention in Latin America these days and Chile continues to be seen as the region's free-market champion, but Panama isn't doing so badly, either.

In the past few months, Panama has topped several key regional rankings. In addition to being named the most globalized country in Latin America last week by Latin Business Chronicle, Panama recently was ranked the best country for exporting and importing containerized goods in Latin America by the World Bank, the fastest-growing tourism market in Latin America by the World Tourism Organization and last, but not least, the fastest-growing economy in Latin America by the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). That comes in addition to being ranked third in Latin America (after Chile and Mexico) when it comes to competitiveness, according to the latest annual index from the World Economic Forum released this month.

And Panama can also boast of having Latin America's largest number of international bank offices, the world's largest shipping registry and the second-larges free trade zone in the world after Hong Kong. Now, it may also become a major regional energy hub. Spain-based Tecnicas Reunidas and Singapore-based Jurong Consultants are planning to create a $40 billion oil refinery, petrochemical production facility and liquified natural gas import terminal aimed at serving the U.S. and Asian markets, Reuters reported last week. That comes on top of U.S.-based oil giant Occiental’s plans to build a $8 billion refinery.

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The Tocumen airport of the Panamanian capital is ready to undertake construction work that will enable to increase its current operation capacity by 38 percent, revealed sources of this sector on Sunday.

The biggest Panamanian air terminal has already finished an expansion program that involved an investment of 90 million dollars

The second step of enlargement will begin by the middle of 2008 and will allow 44 planes to operate simultaneously, revealed sources from the airport's administration.

Tocumen airport expects a passenger yearly growth of 15 percent.

By June Fletcher

The housing slump has sent many Americans shopping south of the border.

Existing-home prices in the U.S. dropped 4.5 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, according to S&P/Case-Shiller. But they are still climbing in much of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Buyers are being enticed by the kind of double-digit appreciation that has all but disappeared in the States. In addition, a growing number of new developments are targeting Americans looking for good deals and a lower cost of living.

Since 2003, annual home-price appreciation has been running at 20 percent in the Dominican Republic, and could reach 50 percent in the near future, according to Boomerang Unlimited, a Napa, Calif., real-estate investment advisory firm. In San Pedro, Belize, the average price of a 2,200-square-foot home was $697,500 in September, up 18.6 percent from a year ago, according to a study by Coldwell Banker; the price of a similar property in San Jose, Costa Rica, was up 20.7 percent, to $389,900, the study said.

Prices remain low compared with those in the U.S., particularly for waterfront properties. Because Americans generally buy and sell properties throughout the region in dollars, not the local currency, home prices don't fluctuate with the various exchange rates, as is the case in Europe. What's more, the dollar generally buys much more house in these countries than it does in the U.S., because labor and land are less expensive.

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By Eva Medalla

A minimum of US$405mn will be invested during the first phase of the Howard airport area development plan, the administrator of the Panamá-Pacífico Special Economic Area Agency, Gilberto Ferrari, told BNamericas.

The project's master plan was approved last week, following the signing of the 40-year public-private partnership contract in June this year.

The project aims to convert the old Howard air base, once owned by the US, into a regional air cargo transport hub, said Ferrari, adding that Panama City's Tocumen international airport already acts as a regional air passenger transport hub.

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