Panama to Modernize Justice System with IDB Support

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $60 million credit line to enhance the management of Panama’s justice system using digital technologies. It also approved the first individual $30 million loan under the credit line. This loan will focus on supporting the digital transformation of Panama’s Judiciary.

Through this Conditional Credit Line for Investment Projects, the IDB will support Panama’s medium- and long-term strategic objective of improving its administration of justice, ensuring uninterrupted technical and financial resources. The first operation under this credit line will focus on cutting down the time it takes to resolve legal proceedings. It aims to increase the efficiency and coverage of digital judicial services and make the administration of justice more transparent.

Although Panama’s justice system has made significant progress on digital transformation, especially in the area of criminal justice, there is room to improve in other judicial areas. The low digitalization of judicial management in noncriminal cases means that these proceedings take longer to resolve. According to the World Justice Project index that measures unjustified delays in civil cases, in 2022 Panama ranked 27th out of 32 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The credit line’s first operation will tackle these challenges through three components. The first aims to make legal proceedings more efficient. This includes upgrading the technology of the Automated Judicial Management System in order to scale it up, make it more sustainable, and expand its implementation at courts.

The second component will enhance the coverage and transparency of digital services. This will involve implementing a multi-channel plan to improve citizen services, along with ways to complete judicial transactions online. These actions will include a gender and diversity focus that will produce disaggregated data and make it easier for vulnerable groups to access the different systems that provide court-related information.

Finally, the third component will focus on bolstering the justice system’s institutional capacity in information technology. Specific steps include designing a suitable organizational structure that favors digital transformation, reviewing regulatory needs for advancing digital justice initiatives, and creating a cybersecurity strategy and training officials on this issue.

The credit line’s first $30 million operation has a 14.5-year repayment period, a 6-year grace period, a $11.1 million local contribution, and an interest rate based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR).