Rethinking Infrastructure Financing for Southeast Asia in the Post-Pandemic Era

RETHINKING INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA

Vivek Rao, Stefano Gatti, Francesca Casalini, and Mattia Pianorsi

FEBRUARY 2023

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ISBN 978-92-9270-025-6 (print); 978-92-9270-026-3 (electronic); 978-92-9270-027-0 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS230029

DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS230029

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CONTENTS

TABLES, FIGURES, AND BOXES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The study was supported under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Knowledge and Support Technical Assistance (TA)-9791 Strengthening Fiscal Governance and Sustainability in Public-Private Partnerships. The authors are grateful to Jose Antonio Tan III, director, Southeast Asia Department, ADB, for guidance and support in making this study possible, and to ADB for financial support.

The publication heavily draws from the earlier publications. While the long list of references is provided, the following reports written by the co-authors* contribute significantly to the background research for the paper: (i) Government policies to enhance access to credit for infrastructure-based PPPs: an approach to classification and appraisal (Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis, 2017); (ii) Project Finance in Theory and Practice: Designing, Structuring, and Financing Private and Public Projects, Third Edition (Elsevier Academic Press, 2018); (iii) Project Finance Collateralized Debt Obligations: An Empirical Analysis of Spread Determinants (European Financial Management, Wiley, 2012); (iv) Public–Private Collaborations for Long Term Investments: Converging Towards Public Value Creation (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022); and (v) Public–Private Partnerships: Principles for Sustainable Contracts (Palgrave Macmillan Cham, 2021).

ABBREVIATIONS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this report is to understand the current infrastructure finance scenario in the post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic era and to explore options that can expand the availability of debt finance for infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. Given that the pandemic has resulted in a broader global downturn, the study is motivated by the key role expected from the infrastructure sector in leading Asian economies toward recovery.

While the global need for substantial infrastructure and contribution to sustainable development was well recognized before COVID-19, quality and more resilient infrastructure has come under greater focus as societies face strained health systems, disruption in supply chains, increasing unemployment, deflationary pressures in energy markets, and disruption in transportation. In this context, the immediate growth driver from infrastructure investment is through construction. The Global Infrastructure Hub estimates that the short-term fiscal growth multiplier, on average, reached 0.80 within 1 year, and 1.53 within 2–5 years.