Panama makes quick moves on tax front

Panama has started negotiating tax information sharing agreements with Australia, Japan and India.

These agreements will add to the 30 that the country negotiated in recent years, as part of its quest to improve financial system and tax transparency, local online publication ANPanama reported.

Of the 30, the agreements with Austria, Belgium, Germany, Bahrein, Vietnam and Colombia still need the final signature to come into effect. The agreement with Colombia will be signed next month, according to ANPanama.

The Panama Papers revelation hurt the country's international reputation but it has not had a negative impact on liquidity in the financial system nor on government debt instruments, ANPanama quoted economy and finance minister Dulcidio De La Guardia as saying.

The Panamanian government took a crucial tax transparency step earlier this month when it committed to sharing financial account information automatically with more than 100 other countries, using the Common Reporting Standard developed by the OECD and G20 countries.