WASHINGTON, CMC—A new report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) highlights advances in infrastructure public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), even as the LAC’s infrastructure gaps exceed US$250 billion annually.
The report, undertaken in collaboration with Economist Impact, analyzes the progress of PPP programs in countries in the region. These programs enable the development of efficient, sustainable, and inclusive infrastructures and have significantly strengthened regulatory frameworks and institutions.
According to the IDB, infrastructure gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean exceed $250 billion annually. In the current challenging macroeconomic context, it is crucial for the public and private sectors to jointly seize investment opportunities to address these challenges more efficiently and innovatively.
It said that the evolution and sophistication of PPP environments and markets have led both institutions to undertake a significant methodological update on Infrascope’s 15th anniversary, addressing cutting-edge topics such as resilience, inclusion, performance measurement, and impact evaluation.
The project also includes new sectors, such as social infrastructure, and expands coverage to the IDB’s 26 borrowing countries.
According to the report, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have made progress in implementing PPPs in infrastructure but still have an excellent opportunity to drive further improvements that benefit their citizens.
The region has attracted more than US$760 billion in private capital towards private infrastructure in the last 30 years. It is crucial to continue strengthening the region’s capacity for developing more efficient and sustainable PPPs.
Among the key findings of the “Infrascope 2023/2024” report is that investment in PPP infrastructure has increased by more than 15 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean and the number of projects by more than 25 percent since the 2021/2022 edition.
In addition, the new report notes that institutional capacity to support PPPs remains a critical and persistent challenge across the region. PPP agencies are fully operational in only half of the 26 countries in the area.
The report also notes that most countries in the region can systematically learn from past experiences through evaluation exercises, adding that this process could contribute to their capacity to develop higher-impact projects.
It also notes that incorporating sustainability criteria in PPP frameworks remains a gap that can be reduced.
The CARIBBEAN-BUSINESS-New report highlights advances in public-private partnerships in LAC.
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