FINANCIAL rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global has increased its ranking on Panamanian infrastructure, including the Panama Canal Authority, from 'stable' to 'positive'
FINANCIAL rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global has increased its ranking on Panamanian infrastructure, including the Panama Canal Authority, from 'stable' to 'positive'. Two years after the Panama Canal expanded, S&P revised its outlook as the waterway demonstrated its global impact. The rating agency also affirmed its 'A-' rating for the Panama Canal, ranking the ACP two notches above that of the sovereign foreign currency rating.
S&P Global Ratings stated that they are revising Panama Canal's outlook due to the waterway's 'intrinsic credit factors, sensitivity to country risk and liquidity cushion.'
The Panama Canal's outlook indicates the rating agency's expectation that it will generate relatively stable annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) due to transit growth, made possible by favorable trends in world trade commerce and the consolidations of the neopanamax locks' operations.
'This revision reflects the Panama Canal's solid financial and operational performance,' said Panama Canal vice president Francisco Miguez. 'This is the direct result of our commitment to efficiency, productivity and performance - overcoming the challenge of growing in an increasingly competitive market.'
