The collapse of the mortgage segment with preferential interest has become the main brake on the placement of new loans in the Panamanian financial system.
During the presentation of the results of the International Banking Center (CBI) and the National Banking System as of September 2026, the executive president of the Banking Association of Panama (ABP), Carlos Berguido, detailed that the accumulated disbursements in this segment suffered a contraction of 61%, going from $746 million in the first nine months of 2023 to just $293 million in the same period of 2026.
Berguido explained that this prolonged decline responds to a combination of regulatory, economic and operational factors accumulated over the last four years.
First of all, he recalled that “the accumulation of state debts due to the delay in the reimbursement of subsidies to banks forced many entities to temporarily suspend their participation in the system to protect their financial costs.”
Added to this, he said, was the cycle of increases in international and local interest rates, as well as the uncertainty generated by the modification of the legal framework.
The executive president of the ABP commented that the legislative process of the new preferential interest law, discussed throughout 2025 between corrections and implementation adjustments, generated a period of waiting and uncertainty that temporarily scared away investment from promoters and banks.
Likewise, he commented that the new regulations reduced both the coverage time and the amounts of subsidies and included modifications in the ranges of protected housing, which restricts access to a smaller universe of buyers.
Berguido pointed out that to these structural changes is added a persistent weakness in the generation of formal employment, essential to meet the credit subject requirements in the banking system.
“Although the bank has ample liquidity and the main players are already active again placing loans, the pace of recovery of the construction sector and preferential mortgages faces a slow process, since the reactivation requires everything from the processing of construction permits and earthworks to the final delivery of the homes”he explained.
In contrast to preferential mortgages, the executive president of the ABP stated that the non-preferential segment showed a much more stable behavior, registering a slight decrease from $713 million to $605 million in the accumulated amount as of September.
However, he clarified that the sharp slowdown in the mortgage engine has forced banks to redirect part of their liquidity towards other investment and financing alternatives, such as the more than $11.7 billion placed in Panamanian State debt securities.
The evolution of new credit in the Panamanian financial system between 2022 and 2026 reflects sustained dynamism in sectors such as commerce, industry and personal consumption, which contrasts sharply with the marked slowdown in the mortgage segment.
During the presentation of the results as of September 2026, the executive president of the ABP detailed that in the first nine months of the year the accumulated new loans reached $21,420 million, achieving an interannual variation of 8.3% compared to the previous period.
When analyzing the historical and comparative behavior by sectors since 2022, it is observed that commercial and industrial sectors have maintained a constant growth path.
The commerce sector, a pillar of the national economy, rose from the initial $9.3 billion to exceed $12.2 billion and $12.5 billion in recent periods.
Similarly, the industry went from accumulating $2,177 million in 2022 to $2,694 million as of September 2026, while personal consumption showed a solid increase, going from $2,300 million to $3,050 million in the same cut.
On the contrary, primary economy activities—such as agriculture, livestock, and fishing—continue to face structural difficulties in achieving economies of scale and scaling up the provision of massive financing.
