Panama Pitches a US$8.5 Billion Canal Plan to Citi and 26 Investors
Panama · Infrastructure
Key Facts
- The country — Panama has about 4.5 million people and an economy built on the canal, banking and logistics. The waterway links the Atlantic and the Pacific and pays tolls straight into the state budget.
- The background — The canal is run by the Panama Canal Authority, the state body that owns and operates it. Its water serves both the locks and household taps, which is why a reservoir sits at the centre of this plan.
- What changed — Ilya Espino de Marotta took office on 7 September 2026 as the canal’s first woman administrator. She joined in 1985 as a marine engineer, was deputy administrator from 2020, and her term runs to 2033.
- What happened — President José Raúl Mulino presented US$8.5 billion of canal-linked projects in New York on 21 September 2026, while in the city for the UN General Assembly’s high-level week.
- Who was in the room — Jane Fraser, chief executive of the American bank Citi, and 26 investors the bank had gathered. Espino de Marotta gave the canal presentation; Fraser offered financing and investor links, but urged Panama to keep its investment-grade credit rating.
- What it means for you — If you ship, trade or invest through Panama, the plan is a bid to turn the canal into a logistics and energy hub: new port terminals, an intermodal corridor, the Río Indio reservoir and a gas pipeline.
- Still open — No breakdown of the US$8.5 billion was reported, and no concession holder has yet been chosen for the ports or the pipeline.
Panama’s president took the canal’s investment plan to Citi and a room of investors. The bank offered help, and a warning about the country’s credit rating.
Panama took its Panama Canal investment plan to New York’s bankers on Monday. President José Raúl Mulino presented US$8.5 billion of canal-linked projects to investors in New York on 21 September 2026.
The audience was Jane Fraser, chief executive of the American bank Citi, and 26 investors gathered by the bank. The plan covers new ports, a logistics corridor and a reservoir meant to keep ships and taps supplied.
Mulino is in New York for the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly. He is combining the diplomacy with a run of meetings with banks and multinationals.
What was on the table
The canal, Mulino told the room, remains “the backbone” of Panama’s logistics sector. He described an investment plan of US$8.5 billion “for the coming years”, according to the presidency’s account.
He named three pieces: the Río Indio reservoir, new port terminals and an intermodal logistics corridor. The presidency’s summary of the canal presentation also lists a gas pipeline.
That presentation was given by Ilya Espino de Marotta, head of the Panama Canal Authority, the state body that runs the waterway. She took office on 7 September 2026 as the first woman to lead the canal.
Espino de Marotta joined the canal in 1985 as a marine engineer and was deputy administrator from 2020. Her term runs to 2033, according to the authority.
Two ports and a pipeline
The two ports are container transhipment terminals: Corozal on the Pacific side and Telfers on the Atlantic side. The canal authority estimates their cost at 2.6 billion balboas (about US$2.6 billion).
The balboa, Panama’s official unit, is fixed at a rate of 1 to the US dollar, a parity in force since 1904. The dollar itself circulates as everyday money.
The authority says the terminals would add 5 million to 6 million TEU (twenty-foot container units) a year. Construction would take about three years once a concession holder is chosen.
The pipeline, which the authority calls an energy corridor, would run about 76 kilometres between the two oceans. It would carry propane, butane and ethane, up to 2.5 million barrels a day.
Its selling point is that the gas would cross Panama without using the locks. That saves fresh water, the canal’s scarcest resource in dry years.
Both schemes are being tendered as concessions to private operators. The authority stopped taking prequalification documents for the ports on 9 July 2026 and for the pipeline on 23 July 2026.
Water first: the Río Indio lake
The main piece the authority will build itself is Río Indio, a dam and lake west of the canal. The authority says it will store 1.29 billion cubic metres of water.
The canal authority says the lake would secure water for more than half of Panama’s population for 50 years. Works are expected to run from 2027 to 2031, after a design-and-build tender.
The authority’s budget for the year from October 2026 foresees the first resettlements of families in the river basin. It also schedules the tender for the dam.
In September 2025 the authority put its ten-year strategic programme at more than 8 billion balboas (about US$8 billion). The US$8.5 billion Mulino cited in New York fits within that programme.
Citi’s offer and its warning
Fraser told the Panamanian delegation, “We are here to support Panama,” according to the presidency. She offered financing capacity, access to international markets and links to institutional investors.
She also advised Panama to keep its investment-grade credit rating. Global financing programmes, she warned, will be “increasingly selective”.
Mulino, for his part, told the investors the economy grew 5.5% in the first half of 2026.
“We are going at a very good pace,” Mulino said. “We expect to exceed the IMF’s growth projections for this year of 3.8%.”
The 3.8% is the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) forecast for Panama this year.
A wider sales pitch
The Panama Canal investment plan was one item on a longer list. He also promoted a railway to David, a city in western Panama, a third metro line and a project by Petroterminal de Panamá, a pipeline operator.
He added power links with Colombia and Ecuador and a multipurpose pier at Puerto Armuelles, on the Pacific coast near Costa Rica. Wider motorways run by the state road company ENA were also on the list.
Also on Monday he addressed executives gathered by the Council of the Americas, a New York business association. Google, Apple, Intel, Ericsson, Mitsubishi, PepsiCo and Pfizer were among the companies represented, the presidency said.
“I invite American business to take part in these projects,” Mulino told them, pointing to roads, hospitals and bridges. He was joined by Felipe Chapman, the economy minister, and José Ramón Icaza, the minister for canal affairs.
What comes next
For investors, the next signal is the canal authority’s list of prequalified bidders for the ports and the pipeline. The authority has said it will publish those lists once its evaluation ends.
For Panamanians, the test is Río Indio, where resettlement and compensation must come before any concrete. The Panama Canal investment story will be judged there as much as in New York.
More: Panama coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
What did Mulino present in New York?
On 21 September 2026 President José Raúl Mulino presented a canal-linked investment plan worth US$8.5 billion. His audience was Citi’s chief executive, Jane Fraser, and 26 investors. The canal administrator, Ilya Espino de Marotta, outlined two container ports, a gas pipeline, a logistics corridor and the Río Indio reservoir. Mulino also promoted railway, metro, energy and road projects outside the canal.
Which ports are planned?
The Panama Canal Authority is tendering two container transhipment terminals: Corozal on the Pacific side and Telfers on the Atlantic side. It estimates their cost at 2.6 billion balboas (about US$2.6 billion). The authority says they would add 5 million to 6 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) of annual transhipment capacity. The deadline for prequalification documents closed on 9 July 2026.
What is the Río Indio project?
It is a planned dam and lake west of the canal that would store 1.29 billion cubic metres of water. The canal authority says it would supply more than half of Panama’s population and support canal operations for 50 years. Works are expected from 2027 to 2031, with resettlement of affected families starting first.
Why did Citi mention Panama’s credit rating?
Jane Fraser offered Citi’s financing and investor network for the projects. She also urged Panama to keep its investment-grade rating, warning that global financing programmes will be increasingly selective. An investment-grade rating lets a government and its agencies borrow more cheaply from large institutional investors.
Sources: La Prensa on the US$8.5 billion presentation, Eco TV carrying the presidency’s account of the Citi meeting, Telemetro on the Citi meeting, Telemetro on the Council of the Americas forum, Panama Canal Authority on its new administrator, Panama Canal Authority on the port and pipeline tenders, Panama Canal Authority on the Corozal and Telfers terminals, Panama Canal Authority on the Río Indio lake, Panama Canal Authority on its ten-year strategy
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