After having closed at the end of last year two large loan operations for a total amount of $ 400 million with the Government of Panama, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) has identified two new loans for this 2021 for a total of $ 275 million.
Among the loans approved last year is one called “development policies in response to the pandemic and recovery of growth in Panama” for $ 250 million and another to support the Vale Digital program for $ 150 million.
For this exercise, another loan for development policies is planned for $ 250 million and a financing to the Ministry of Social Development for $ 25 million, said Manuel Torres, manager of the Public Sector of CABEI, in a discussion with media in the region held yesterday.
The portfolio of the public sector of Panama with the regional bank amounts to $ 750 million.
Dante Mossi, Executive President of CABEI, announced that due to the better financing conditions obtained by the bank in its issuances, they will transfer a reduction in financial costs to the public portfolio with all countries in the region, in existing loans and in existing loans. future, which will generate annual savings of about $ 10 million in interest payments for.
CABEI also assists Panama in the development of projects through Public Private Associations (PPP). Asked about the growing weight of debt and the relationship between interest and income in the public sector, something that has been pointed out by rating agencies, Mossi said that these indicators are also analyzed by the bank, as well as the Panamanian authorities .
This would be one of the reasons that leads countries to bet on the PPP modality. With this mechanism, the private company makes the initial contribution to the project and recovers the investment through a rate paid by the users of the infrastructure, which can be complemented with contributions from the Government.
The bank approved technical assistance to strengthen the PPP secretariat and to structure the Norte de David corridor project, one of the first to be contracted under this mechanism.
In addition, Mossi said that the bank received the request for non-reimbursable technical assistance to complete the studies of the electrical interconnection between Panama and Colombia.
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