Panama is set to receive US$2.3 billion in loans to expand the Panama Canal, nearly half the money it needs to complete the seven-year project, the canal's administrator said Tuesday.
A group of five multinational lenders are offering 20-year loans at a 5.4 percent annual interest rate — demonstrating the world's confidence in Panama even as financial uncertainty wracks the globe, President Martin Torrijos said.
The Panama Canal Authority has said it will need US$5.3 billion to build two wider locks to double the 50-mile (80-kilometer) canal's capacity by 2014. It plans to collect the rest of the money for the project in ship tolls, from which it earned US$2 billion in the last fiscal year, said Panama Canal administrator Alberto Aleman.
The waterway, which was under U.S. control until 2000 and now moves about 5 percent of the world's cargo, is the government's main source of income.
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation will provide US$800 million in loans, the European Investment Bank US$500 million, the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank US$400 million. The Caracas-based Andean Development Corporation and the Washington-based International Finance Corporation will each offer US$300 million, Aleman said.
A group of five multinational lenders are offering 20-year loans at a 5.4 percent annual interest rate — demonstrating the world's confidence in Panama even as financial uncertainty wracks the globe, President Martin Torrijos said.
The Panama Canal Authority has said it will need US$5.3 billion to build two wider locks to double the 50-mile (80-kilometer) canal's capacity by 2014. It plans to collect the rest of the money for the project in ship tolls, from which it earned US$2 billion in the last fiscal year, said Panama Canal administrator Alberto Aleman.
The waterway, which was under U.S. control until 2000 and now moves about 5 percent of the world's cargo, is the government's main source of income.
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation will provide US$800 million in loans, the European Investment Bank US$500 million, the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank US$400 million. The Caracas-based Andean Development Corporation and the Washington-based International Finance Corporation will each offer US$300 million, Aleman said.