DATA ON PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Methodology

WHICH DATA DO WE INCLUDE?

This initiative, led by CAF, ECLAC and the IDB, reports investment in economic infrastructure (defenses against floods, energy, irrigation, telecommunications, transportation and water and sanitation). We report public investment data from three government levels (national, regional and local) and from State Owned Enterprises.

SECTORS

The covered sectors are concentrated on infrastructure services and utilities. Therefore, infrastructure investment related to oil and gas production and oil refinement and petrochemistry is excluded. Social infrastructure is also excluded: schools, hospitals, dwellings and security infrastructure.

We report investments for the following sectors:

Water

Water and sanitation (drinking water supply through the grid, provision of sanitation services); flood defenses (urban and rural projects for mitigating the effects of flooding); irrigation (facilities and systems of artificial irrigation)

Energy

Generation, transmission and distribution of electricity; transmission and distribution of natural gas

Telecommunications

Fixed-line telephone services, mobile and satellite telephony, data and internet connection services

Transportation

Roads and paths, massive urban transportation, railway transportation (infrastructure and rolling stock), aerial transportation and fluvial and maritime transportation

TYPES OF PROJECTS

Public investment is collected from capital expenditures, particularly gross fixed capital formation expenditures, which constitute investment in the sectors included in this project. We include investments in projects whose lifespan exceeds a year and are subject to depreciation. We report investments in the following type of projects:

New projects or Improvement and Expansion projects:

Projects that add production capacity through construction and/or acquisition of a new productive unit, or those increasing productive potential or the lifespan of an already existing unit; or those which allow for the same production capacity but with greater quality and/or at reduced cost.

Replenishment Projects:

Projects which aim at replacing old assets for others of similar nature and scope, replenishing worn-out productive potential or replenishing the most essential equipment to guarantee assets’ normal functioning.

Pre-Investment Expenses:

Expenditures including professional services, costs of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, etc., needed to carry out a project.

In order to adequately measure investment, it is necessary to exclude current expenditures and operation and daily maintenance costs since they are not included in any of the three aforementioned categories. Thus, those expenses that do not increase the yield or capacity of existing fixed assets nor do they significantly extend their expected useful life are excluded.

Administrative costs associated to government functions in the aforementioned sectors are also excluded; for instance, computer purchases or administrative expenditures of government entities in charge of regulating or supervising sectors defined in this project (such as Ministries or Regulation Authorities).

Under IDB, CAF and ECLAC’s initiative we collect, treat and validate data from public accounts statistics, particularly from budget information. Within these lines, ECLAC has produced a document entitled “Collection and processing of data on infrastructure investments from public finances in Latin America and the Caribbean“, which provides a glossary and a form designed as tools for consultation and support for Persons responsible for compiling information on infrastructure investments made by the public sector in Latin American and Caribbean countries. It should be noted that the alignment between the concepts of the budget accounts and the concepts and guidelines contained in that glossary is still a goal to be achieved.

MEASUREMENT UNITS

Public investment is collected and reported in local currency units at current prices; it is converted to US Dollars (USD) at current prices using CEPALSTAT’s exchange rate. It is converted to percentage of GDP using GDP data at current prices, as reported by CEPALSTAT. Investment expenses are measured on an accrual basis whenever possible.

COUNTRIES AND YEARS

The initiative records infrastructure investment data from 2008 to 2021 for the following 21 countries: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

This initiative is an ongoing project that seeks to update the data annually, as well as expand the number of countries and improve the available data. The published investment data may be revised periodically due to improvements in data quality or thanks to comments received from users.