IDB study highlights major strides forward in region’s PPP capabilities

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An Inter-American Development Bank assessment of the PPP environment within its borrowing members shows significant improvement in its use for infrastructure. 

The IDB’s Infrascope 2021-2022 study finds that Latin American and Caribbean countries have made major strides toward creating environments that support the emergence of efficient and sustainable public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure.

The report highlights that Brazil and Chile presently lead the way, while Colombia, Peru, Panama and Costa Rica also show good performance. In general, the region has already laid the regulatory and institutional foundations for developing PPPs, so countries now face the challenge of improving project preparation, funding, and risk management.

IDB president Claver-Carone explained at the report launch: “Public-private partnerships offer a major opportunity to expand markets, create jobs, and contribute to the region’s economic recovery and growth, since they foster sustainability, efficiency and innovation. That’s why the IDB supports collaboration between the public and private sectors through our one-stop shop for PPPs. The first step in this process is understanding each country’s challenges and opportunities, which is why analytical tools like the Infrascope are so important.”

Infrascope 2021-2022 is the seventh edition in a series of studies conducted every two years by Economist Impact, the analysis arm of The Economist Group, and commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This edition is the first to include all 26 borrowing member countries of the IDB and features a new indicator framework to reflect the latest developments in PPPs for infrastructure.

The study points out that to develop fiscally viable infrastructure PPPs that are of high financial quality, it is necessary to reduce uncertainty via transparent, consistent and efficient risk allocation and by applying lessons learned through ongoing project-performance monitoring.

It also recommends that countries place more emphasis on sustainability and preparation for the future to ensure economic and social infrastructure will withstand the test of time and climate change.