Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Costa Rica lead the 2021-2022 Infrascope, which assesses the capacity of countries to mobilize private investment through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have taken significant steps in creating enabling environments for the development of efficient and sustainable PPPs in infrastructure. Two countries stand out in particular, Brazil and Chile, and five more show high performance: Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Panama and Costa Rica.
The regulatory and institutional foundations for PPP development are largely in place throughout the region, and attention must now focus on improving project preparation, financing, and risk management.
These are the main results of the 7th edition of the Infrascope 2021-2022, a publication that assesses the capacity of countries to mobilize private investment in infrastructure through PPPs and is developed every two years by Economist Impact, the analysis unit of the The Economist group, and commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Infrascope includes 26 IDB borrowing member countries
The study was presented at an event that featured opening remarks by IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone and Economist Impact Americas Director Vaibhav Sahgal. Subsequently, the IDB Vice President for Countries, Richard Martínez, moderated a panel with public officials from Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Paraguay on the challenges and opportunities that PPPs present to countries. Likewise, the IDB’s Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer, Jessica Bedoya, spoke with international investors and developers about the prospects for PPPs in the region.
This new edition of the Infrascope has been expanded to all 26 IDB borrowing member countries and includes a new framework of indicators to capture the latest developments in infrastructure PPPs, including social and environmental sustainability, fiscal control and budget planning, transparency and accountability, as well as new financial instruments.
A great opportunity
Public-Private Partnerships represent a great opportunity to expand markets, create jobs, contribute to the economic recovery and growth of the region, since they promote sustainability, efficiency and innovation
That is why at the IDB, through our PPP Single Window, we are supporting collaboration between the public and private sectors under this model, and to achieve this, the first step is to understand the challenges and opportunities that each country has, hence the importance of analysis tools such as the Infrascope.
Continuous monitoring of project performance is necessary
The findings of the study indicate that the creation in the countries of more favorable environments for the development and implementation of infrastructure PPPs will be essential to improve the efficiency, sustainability, sectoral balance, and quality of this tool in the region.
On the other hand, the study highlights that developing infrastructure PPPs of financial and fiscally viable quality requires reducing uncertainty through transparent, consistent and efficient risk allocation. As well as applying the lessons learned through continuous monitoring of project performance. In addition, countries must give more weight to sustainability and future-readiness, to ensure that economic and social infrastructure stands the tests of time and climate change.
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