Panama’s government has authorized the creation of two trusts to channel financial assistance to those affected by the powerful earthquake that struck the country on October 9, 2026. The move, explained by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), establishes a dual funding structure: one trust administered by the state through the Banco Nacional de Panamá, and a second managed by the private sector through the Caja de Ahorros.
What Happened
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the government approved the constitution of two separate trusts designed to attend to victims of the October 9 earthquake. The first trust will be handled by the state, with the Banco Nacional de Panamá serving as the administering institution. The second trust will be operated by the private sector through the Caja de Ahorros.
The purpose of establishing two distinct vehicles, according to the MEF, is to administer the incoming resources in a differentiated manner. By separating state-managed funds from those collected through private-sector channels, the government aims to keep the two streams of money organizationally distinct, each with its own administering financial institution.
Background
The October 9, 2026 earthquake was a significant seismic event that affected communities across Panama, prompting a national emergency response and an outpouring of donations from both public institutions and private citizens. In disaster situations of this scale, governments face the challenge of receiving, safeguarding, and distributing large volumes of aid money quickly and transparently.
Trusts are a commonly used financial mechanism in such scenarios. By placing disaster relief funds in a formal trust structure administered by an established bank, authorities can ring-fence the money from general government accounts, creating a dedicated pool of resources that can be tracked and audited separately.
Both institutions named as administrators are major players in Panama’s financial system. The Banco Nacional de Panamá is one of the country’s principal state-owned banks, while the Caja de Ahorros is a well-known Panamanian savings bank with broad public reach. Their involvement places the management of emergency resources within established, regulated banking institutions.
What This Means for Panama
The creation of the two trusts signals that relief efforts are moving from immediate emergency response into a longer-term reconstruction and assistance phase, one that requires structured financial administration. For earthquake victims, the trusts represent the formal channel through which aid will be organized and distributed.
The decision to run parallel public and private trusts also reflects a practical reality of disaster fundraising: donations arrive from both government budgets and private donors, including businesses and individuals. Managing these streams separately through the Banco Nacional de Panamá and the Caja de Ahorrows allows each sector’s contributions to be administered according to its own logic, while both remain dedicated to the same humanitarian goal.
For Panamanians looking to contribute, the existence of an official private-sector trust provides a defined vehicle for donations. In the coming weeks, attention will focus on how quickly the trusts begin disbursing funds to affected families and how the MEF reports on the use of resources—transparency in the administration of emergency money is typically a central public concern following major disasters.
The measure underscores the scale of the needs left by the October 9 earthquake and the government’s intent to address them through formal financial instruments rather than ad hoc spending.
This story was originally reported by Telemetro.