Exclusive: Panama VP questions Nicaragua Canal cost effectiveness

Panama’s vice president and foreign minister, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, has fuelled doubts over the viability of the Nicaragua Canal project, claiming further Panama Canal expansions would be more cost effective.

Speaking at the London School of Economics, she said: “We could build a third, fourth, fifth expansion at a cost much much lower than it would cost to build a canal in Nicaragua.”

“World trade is growing,” she stated. “We are not concerned in Panama of the possibility of some competition. But if it happens, we are making sure we will remain competitive.”