The 20-year financing will support the $5.25 billion project to double the canal's capacity to more than 600 million Panama Canal tonness and allow it to handle large post-Panamax container ships that have become the new industry standard. The expansion includes construction of a new set of locks with water-saving basins and improvements to navigational channels.

The IFC loan to ACP will be part of a new line of business being jointly developed by IFC and the World Bank that provides financing without sovereign guarantees to well-run local governments and public enterprises for essential infrastructure investments.

"IFC's participation in the Panama Canal expansion project, at a time of a global financial crisis, reflects our confidence in one of

Alberto Alemán Zubieta, administrator and CEO of the ACP says: "We welcome the decision of the IFC Board and we are pleased by this development. Indeed, in the midst of the global financial and economic crisis, this approval signifies trust and confidence in the Canal, in the historic expansion project, and in Panama itself – a testament to the will and capacity of our people to undertake a project that will have a positive net impact in our country and in the world of shipping and trade."

IFC appraised the project in close cooperation with four other multilaterals that also have been selected by the ACP to co-finance the canal expansion project: the Inter-American Development Bank, the