This report identifies key governance challenges in the management of fiscal risks and contingent liabilities in Asia and the Pacific arising from public investments through public–private partnerships and state-owned enterprises. It highlights the importance of investment in quality infrastructure to overcome the trilemma of the overall infrastructure investment gap, limited fiscal space, and increasing debt. It shows that such investments need to be efficient—that is, they need to provide the right infrastructure delivering maximum economic benefits at the lowest cost. The report sets out practical insights as a resource for decision-makers.
For tackling complex global challenges such as climate change, this publication advises how a Gateway Process (GP) can help the Asian Development Bank’s developing member countries channel scarce public resources into viable, sustainable, and efficient infrastructure investments. Supporting ministries of finance and related agencies, this publication explains how GPs can enhance the preparation, procurement, and execution of public private partnership projects and traditional public investment projects. To advance the environmental, social, and fiscal priorities of diverse economies and build institutional capacities, the publication describes an adjustable GP model—allowing policymakers to develop bespoke GPs within broader public investment management strategies.
Investment in infrastructure can be a driving force of the economic recovery in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of shrinking fiscal space. Public-private partnerships (PPP) bring a promise of efficiency when carefully designed and managed, to avoid creating unnecessary fiscal risks. But fiscal illusions prevent an understanding the sources of fiscal risks, which arise in all infrastructure projects, and that in PPPs present specific characteristics that need to be addressed. PPP contracts are also affected by implicit fiscal risks when they are poorly designed, particularly when a government signs a PPP contract for a project with no financial sustainability. This paper reviews the advantages and inconveniences of PPPs, discusses the fiscal illusions affecting them, identifies a diversity of fiscal risks, and presents the essentials of PPP fiscal risk management.
The “National Policy on PPP” recently approved by the Government of Ghana (GoG) sets out the government’s intention to use Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to “improve the quality, cost-effectiveness, and timely provision of public infrastructure in Ghana.” The PPP Policy highlights the role of the government’s financial support to PPPs, as well as the importance of putting in place a system to manage the associated fiscal commitments (FCs). This study proposes an operational framework for managing fiscal obligations arising from PPPs in Ghana. This framework aims to ensure that PPP FCs are consistently identified and assessed during PPP project preparation, and that these assessments are fed into project approval. The framework will also ensure that PPP FCs are monitored, reported on, and budgeted for appropriately over the lifetime of PPP projects. To that end, the report outlines roles and responsibilities, concepts, and processes for managing PPP FCs, drawing on international standards and practices, bearing in mind existing institutions and capacities in Ghana. The report also suggests legislative additions and capacity-building needed to establish this framework in practice.
Developing countries face massive infrastructure needs, but public spending on infrastructure is inadequate, and public investment has been declining in recent years. Rising debt levels and tightening fiscal and monetary conditions are putting further pressure on the funds available for infrastructure, heightening the importance of increasing the efficiency of infrastructure spending. Off the Books: Understanding and Mitigating the Fiscal Risks of Infrastructure shows that however governments deliver infrastructure—through direct public provision, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), or public-private partnerships (PPPs), the risk of fiscal surprises is high in both good times and bad. As a result, infrastructure service delivery often ends up costing significantly more than expected, eroding limited fiscal space for productive spending. This book makes a unique contribution by quantifying the magnitude and prevalence of fiscal risks from electricity and transport infrastructure and identifying their root causes across a range of low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on important new sources of evidence and compiling many others, the analysis sheds light on how much is at stake in the good governance of infrastructure sectors. It allows policy makers to weigh the magnitudes of different types of risks and examine how they vary across contexts. Off the Books shows how a deeper understanding of the fiscal risks of infrastructure can help policy makers target reforms to areas where they can be expected to have the greatest impact. It lays out a reform agenda for mitigating the fiscal risks associated with infrastructure based on building government capacity; adopting integrated public investment management and integrated fiscal risk management; improving fiscal and corporate governance of SOEs; and ensuring robust PPP preparation, procurement, and contract management. The book will be of enormous value to policy makers, practitioners, and academics who have an interest in infrastructure and fiscal policy.
This path-breaking book considers the recent trend for governments to look increasingly to private sector finance, provided by private enterprises constructing and managing public infrastructure facilities in partnership with government bodies. 'The boundaries between the public and private sector are the most important political issue of our time.'
South Asia needs large infrastructure investments to achieve its development goals, and public investment can also support the Covid-19 recovery. Regression estimates that account for the quantity and quality of investment suggest that public infrastructure was a key driver of productivity growth in South Asia. Going forward, higher public infrastructure spending can raise growth, but its benefits depend on how it is financed and managed. Model simulations show that tax financing, concessional lending, or private sector financing through public private partnerships (PPPs) are more advantageous than government borrowing through financial markets because they support growth while containing the impact on public debt. However, the optimal choice also depends on available fiscal space, taxation capacity, implementation risks, and public investment efficiency. To reap the most benefits from higher infrastructure investment, South Asian countries need to manage fiscal risks carefully, including from PPPs and state-owned enterprises, and improve public investment efficiency.
Large infrastructure projects often face significant cost overruns and stakeholder fragmentation. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) allow governments to procure long-term infrastructure services from private providers, rather than developing, financing, and managing infrastructure assets themselves. Aligning public and private interests and institutional logics for decades-long service contracts subject to shifting economic and political contexts creates significant governance challenges. We integrate multiple theoretical perspectives with empirical evidence to examine how experiences from more mature PPP jurisdictions can help improve PPP governance approaches worldwide.
This note discusses what finance ministries can do to ensure that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are used wisely. By inviting private participation in infrastructure development and service provision, PPPs can help improve public services. Yet, strong governance institutions are needed to manage risks and avoid unexpected costs from PPPs. While in the short term, PPPs may appear cheaper than traditional public investment, over time they can turn out to be more expensive and undermine fiscal sustainability, particularly when governments ignore or are unaware of their deferred costs and associated fiscal risks. To use PPPs wisely governments should (1) develop and implement clear rules for their use; (2) identify, quantify, and disclose PPP risks and expected costs; and (3) reform budget and government accounting frameworks to capture all fiscal costs comprehensively.
This guidebook offers training modules for the promotion of public-private partnerships in the delivery of public services. PPPs in theory are supposed to combine the best of both worlds. The private sector with its resources, management skills and technology; and the public sector with its regulatory actions and protection of the public interest provide a balance in delivering public service. PPPs though are also complex in nature, requiring different types of skills and new enabling institutions and they lead to changes in the status of public sector jobs. To work well, they require "good governance", that is, well-functioning institutions, transparent, efficient procedures and accountable and competent public and private sectors. This guidebook therefore seeks to elaborate best practice and is aimed at policymakers, government officials and the private sector.
