USAID/TCA EMD Webinar 5: Financing Trade Infrastructure - Public-Private Options

Increasing trade involves a number of things - trade agreements, expedited systems and processes, transparency and information flows, etc.  It also requires public good infrastructure - seaports, roads, airports, warehouses, etc. - which requires financing.

These investments are large and, like all investments, carry risk.  There is always uncertainty as to whether the underlying cash flows from these investments will be sufficient to service the debt and/or provide a suitable equity return.  Will the infrastructure be the right size - capable of meeting the trade flows which will arise, but without excess capacity which will never be needed?  How is the infrastructure going to be managed - ensuring operations and maintenance?  How will pricing for services be set?  Who will manage the facility and the sub-elements that may comprise the facility (for example, fueling services for airports)? These are just some of the myriad of decisions to be made - and if they are not made well, the consequences can be disastrous.  There are few sadder sights than an abandoned port that did not get the level of the trade needed to stay alive or was simply mismanaged.

How can decision-makers help to mitigate the risks inherent in large trade infrastructure investments - and avoid bad decisions?  One solution is to engage the private sector - specifically to bring in private capital (along with the private sector, which controls that capital) to co-invest with public funds.

Join us on September 1, 2022, to explore how private capital - the trillions of dollars of monies held in savings accounts, retirement funds, investment accounts, etc. - can engage with the public sector to achieve better development outcomes in trade infrastructure.