Average inflation in Panama

Measures the change in prices of a representative basket of goods and services bought by Panamanian households. Published by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), it is the country's main measure of inflation.

Compiled from a regular price survey across regions, weighting each item by its share of household spending on an index with a base year of 100. It is reported as an annual (YoY) and monthly (MoM) change.

Panama is a dollarised economy with no central bank or independent monetary policy, so inflation is driven largely by imported prices and global conditions. A high print erodes purchasing power without any local scope to respond through interest rates.

It covers only the selected basket and, given the use of the US dollar, tracks external and fuel prices closely. Core inflation, excluding energy and unprocessed food, gives a clearer read on the underlying trend.