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Business and Economics > Finance: General

You are looking at 1 - 6 of 6 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities: General x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Trends and Challenges in Infrastructure Investment in Low-Income Developing Countries
Daniel Gurara
,
Mr. Vladimir Klyuev
,
Miss Nkunde Mwase
,
Mr. Andrea F Presbitero
, and
Mr. Geoffrey J Bannister
This paper examines trends in infrastructure investment and its financing in low-income developing countries (LIDCs). Following an acceleration of public investment over the last 15 years, the stock of infrastructure assets increased in LIDCs, even though large gaps remain compared to emerging markets. Infrastructure in LIDCs is largely provided by the public sector; private participation is mostly channeled through Public-Private Partnerships. Grants and concessional loans are an essential source of infrastructure funding in LIDCs, while the complementary role of bank lending is still limited to a few countries. Bridging infrastructure gaps would require a broad set of actions to improve the efficiency of public spending, mobilize domestic resources and support from development partners, and crowd in the private sector.
Keywords:
WP; investment; infrastructure investment; emerging market; financing; GDP; Infrastructure; Public Investment; Public-Private Partnerships; Developing Countries; investment efficiency; management institution; saving-investment balance; investment project; Public investment and public-private partnerships (PPP); Transportation; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Project loans; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa; Global; appendix I. public investment scaling-up; public investment in LIDCs; public investment in infrastructure; Public investment spending
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Growth Return of Infrastructure in Latin America
Mr. Sergi Lanau
This paper examines the effects of improvements in infrastrucutre on sectoral growth and firm-level investment, focusing on six Latin American countries. Exploiting the heterogeneity in the quality of infrastructure across countries and the intrinsic variation in the dependence of sectors on infrastructure, I find that better infrastructure raises growth and investment. Improved infrastructure could yield large economic benefits. For example, if the quality of infrastructure in Colombia increased to the sample median (Czech Republic), GDP growth would increase by about 0.1 percentage points.
Keywords:
WP; infrastructure; growth; investment; investment rate; investment analysis; rate of firm; investment regression; investment plan; infrastructure investment; Transportation; Corporate investment; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Stocks; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Product Market Deregulation and Growth: New Country-Industry-Level Evidence
Romain Bouis
,
Mr. Romain A Duval
, and
Johannes Eugster
The paper investigates the economic effects of major product market reforms in some of the historically most protected non-manufacturing industries. It relies on a unique mapping between new annual data on reform shocks and sector-level outcomes for five network industries (electricity and gas, land transport, air transport, postal services, and telecommunications) in twenty-six countries spanning over three decades. The use of a threedimensional panel and careful instrumentation of reform shocks using external instruments enables us to control for economy-wide macroeconomic shocks and address possible sources of omitted variable bias more broadly. Using a local projection method, we find that major reductions in barriers to entry yield large increases in output and labor productivity over a five-year horizon, concomitant with a relative price decline. By contrast, there is only a weak positive effect on sectoral employment, and investment is essentially unaffected, suggesting that output gains from reform primarily reflect higher total factor productivity. It takes some time for these gains to materialize: effects become statistically significant two to three years after the reform, as prices start dropping, and productivity and output increase significantly. However, there is no evidence of any negative short-term cost from reform, including under weak macroeconomic conditions. These findings provide a clear case for intensifying product market reform efforts in advanced economies at the current juncture of weak growth.
Keywords:
WP; panel dataset; country-time-industry panel data; EU country; OECD indicator; time series; Structural reforms; deregulation; competition; entry barriers; product market; growth; sector observation; product market deregulation; labor productivity effect; land transport; Commodity markets; Transportation; Electricity; Employment; Labor productivity; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Pacific Speed of Growth: How Fast Can It Be and What Determines It?
Yongzheng Yang
,
Hong Chen
,
Shiu raj Singh
, and
Baljeet Singh
This study aims to test within a relatively homogeneous group of small states what differentiates the growth performance of Pacific island countries (PICs) from their peers. We find that PICs are disadvantaged by distance and hampered by lower investment and exports compared with other small island states, but greater political stability, catch-up effects from lower initial incomes, and slower population growth have helped offset some of these disadvantages. On balance, policy-related factors, together with geography-related disadvantages, have led to growth rates in PICs that are much lower than in other small states. We also examine how real exchange rate appreciation, unfavorable developments in the external trade environment, and rising international transport costs may have contributed to PICs’ slower growth over the past decade.
Keywords:
WP; financial crisis; PIC economy; economic recovery; PIC government; small states; Pacific island countries; growth; convergence; remoteness; volatility; aid; investment exports; trade pattern; growth rebound; growth performance; PIC growth rebound; PIC export; visitor arrival; Exports; Transportation; Real exchange rates; Imports; Competition; Global; Australia and New Zealand; Pacific Islands; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Assessing Competitiveness After Conflict: The Case of the Central African Republic
Mr. Mark W Lewis
,
Mr. Jean-Claude Nachega
,
Mr. Said A Bakhache
, and
Mr. Kadima D. Kalonji
This paper assesses competitiveness in the case of the Central African Republic, a postconflict country. The paper presents several conventional techniques for assessing competitiveness, namely the real exchange rate and recent trade performance. Several other measures are considered, in particular transport costs and governance measures, which may be more effective in capturing the obstacles to competitiveness posed by the poor security environment and weak institutions common to many post-conflict situations. The real exchange measure and trade measures suggest some mild erosion of competitiveness in recent years, while the other measures indicate that the competitiveness challenges faced by the Central African Republic are much deeper.
Keywords:
WP; country; transport; transport cost; cost
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Impact of the EC's Internal Marketon Nonmember Countries: The Case of EFTA
International Monetary Fund
This paper presents an overview of the impact of the EC’s Internal Market on the EFTA countries. It starts by examining the history of EC-EFTA relations; the institutional and legal changes that closer cooperation may require; and the general implications of the Internal Market Program for EFTA countries. This is followed by an exploration of specific issues relating to the goods trade, transport services, labor mobility, financial services and capital flows. Subsequent chapters focus on the potential impact of the EC’s proposed monetary unification on EFTA countries and the implications of the EC’s efforts in the area of tax harmonization.
Keywords:
WP; EFTA country; EFTA member; EC country; EC-EFTA relation; exchange rate; EFTA firm; terms of trade; EC-EFTA cooperation; EC firm; EC standard; trading partner; Transportation; Competition; Monetary unions; Western Europe; Europe