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) and the 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 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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