BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

Panama will be one of the fastest-growing economies in Latin America this year thanks in large part to the $5.2 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, the solid fundamentals of its large international banking sector and its dollarized economy, experts say.

"Panama will do well because of the large investment projects that are under way, including a massive expansion of the Panama Canal," says Standard & Poor's credit analyst Joydeep Mukherji. "The Canal expansion, along with other investment projects planned by the government in other types of infrastructure, should sustain growth."

That prognosis is impressive in light of the fact that Panama is the country in Latin America that depends most on global trade, which is expected to see steep falls this year.