Panama’s Services Exports on the Rise 📈, Driven by Maritime Transport ⚓️ – In 2025, Panama’s service exports reached $20.2 billion, a 10.6% increase compared to the same period last year. This according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI) & National Institute of Statistics (INEC) published this month.
The growth was mainly driven by the transportation sector 📦, seeing a $1.22 Billion rise in value (+13.4%). With exports generating $10.35 billion, the transportation sector remained the backbone of service exports with just over 51% of total services exports.
Maritime Transport Driving Services Export Growth
The strong performance of the subsector maritime transport ⚓️ (e.g. Panama Canal, port operations; +19.2% rise, 33.3% share of exports) was good for 88.6% of transportation sector export growth and responsible for 56.2% of the overall rise in total service exports.
Travel (tourism) 🧳, the goods and services purchased by international travellers to Panama (e.g. accommodation), experienced the 2nd largest absolute increase with 583 million (+9.7%). Totaling $6.59 billion in 2025, it was Panama’s 2nd highest service export category (32% of total).
Financial services 🏦 declined slightly with $680.000 (-0.1%), making up 6.8% of total service exports for the period ($1.38 billion), the 3rd largest category. At the same time, insurance and pensions reached $606 million, a rise of $63.3 million (+11.7%).
Rise in Other Business Services
Another notable rise was shown in other business services increasing 16.9%, from 524.5 million to 613.1 million. The latter increase was for a large part caused by a increase in the export of technical services, trade-related services (brokerage, commissions) and other services from 135.5 to 272.2 million (+100.1%).
Panama thrives on services exports. 95% of the country’s export value comes from services. Above figures underscore Panama’s role as regional logistical & services hub in Latin America.
Source Data: INEC Dashboard with Panama’s Services Exports
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