Panama Canal Signs USD2.3bn Financing Agreement

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

22 December 2008

On December 9, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO, Alberto Aleman Zubieta, signed a USD2.3bn agreement with leaders from five multilateral and development agencies to finance the waterway's expansion project.

In an official ceremony held at Panama's Ascanio Arosemena Auditorium, Aleman Zubieta and top executives from the five agencies signed the agreement for the financing package, which will cover a major portion of the USD5.25bn Canal Expansion Program.

President Torrijos also signed the agreement as an honorary witness.

In addition to Torrijos and Aleman Zubieta, those in attendance included: Francisco de Paula Coelho, Latin America and Asia director, European Investment Bank; Enrique Garcia Rodriguez, executive president, Corporacion Andina de Fomento; Luis Alberto Moreno, president, Inter-American Development Bank; Juan Jose Daboub, World Bank Group managing director, International Finance Corporation; and Yoshihiko Morita, vice president, Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

Representing Asia, Latin America, Europe and the United States, the agencies' confidence in the expansion project demonstrates the Canal's importance to Panama's economic growth and world trade, according to the Canal Authority.

The expansion will build a new lane of traffic along the Panama Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, which will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships.

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