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IDB Invest and Panama support tourism recovery with financial guarantees
07/01/2022 Since 2 years

The Government of Panama and IDB Invest are teaming up to create a risk mitigation facility to guarantee loan portfolios for the tourism sector. The joint credit line will guarantee a tourism loan portfolio of up to $300 million through different financial institutions in Panama.

The objective of the facility is to promote tourism by giving financial institutions a greater incentive to lend to the tourism sector (which accounts for about 16% of GDP), thereby helping the industry recover in Panama.

The tourism loan portfolios will be originated and serviced individually by each participating financial institution in Panama. Banistmo, a subsidiary of Grupo Bancolombia and Panama’s second largest private bank, will be the lead institution and the first signatory of the line of credit with a guarantee of up to $80 million. IDB Invest anticipates engaging with other partner banks to better evaluate their tourism portfolios and provide the required guarantees, along with the Panamanian government, to encourage additional investment and growth in tourism.

IDB Invest will also provide advisory services to Banistmo to help it strengthen its offerings to small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism sector, so that these companies can gain broader access to credit products.

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