Bangkok--11 Dec--Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings (Thailand) Limited has today upgraded the National Long-term rating of Central American Bank for Economic Integration’s (CABEI) THB2.374 billion senior unsecured bonds, due 2017, to ‘AA+(tha)’ from ‘AA(tha)’. This follows the agency’s upgrade on CABEI’s Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘A-’ (A minus) from ‘BBB+’ with Stable Outlook, while its Short-term foreign currency IDR was affirmed at ‘F2’. Fitch’s upgrade of CABEI’s Long-term IDR is driven by the several positive trends observed in the last few years: an improvement in the credit quality of its founding members, a strong capital base despite the bank’s vigorous growth, a return of its private sector exposure to historic levels and the enhancement of several self-imposed corporate governance rules and control techniques. CABEI is a Central American Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) based in Honduras. It is not subject to local regulation and is exempt from taxation. It is currently 59%-owned by its so-called five founding member states - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The remaining shares belong to seven non-regional members: Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Taiwan, Spain, Dominican Republic and Panama. CABEI's objective is to fund development projects in Central America by channeling medium and long term foreign currency resources to both public and private institutions.