CONTRIBUTIONS FROM the Panama Canal to the Panama state are expected to rise  45 percent in 2017, the first full year of the expansion said Minister of Economy and Finance Dulcidio De La Guardia on Tuesday June 28.

He did not provide exact figures on contributions pending the presentation of the budget of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).

"There has not been any year the Canal contributions have not exceeded the budget," said the minister.

On previous occasions, the ACP and the Ministry of Economy and Finance have posited  that in 2017 the Canal contributions could be $400 million.

De La Guardia also noted that the enlargement will create a base for economic growth of at least 5 percent for the next 10 years, and there will be a 40 percent increase in investments in the logistic cluster around the Canal.

Recently, the agency Fitch Ratings said in a report that the Canal expansion would be an opportunity to improve the sovereign rating of the country.

De La Guardia said the government is committed to the reduction of the fiscal deficit, as that is one of the ways the country can also improve its rating.

The minister also stressed that Panama has been the economy's fastest growing in the region and that poverty and inequality rates have dropped in the past two years.