Jeannette Lardé
Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division
ECLAC | United Nations
jeannette.larde@cepal.org

4th ITF TRANSPORT STATISTICS MEETING
Paris, France, 14th-15th March 2017

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Database on investment ininfrastructure in Latin America andthe Caribbean

Content•• II. Methodology
III. Major challenges and next steps

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG• I. INFRALATAM iniciative••

Until recently a major obstacle to effective policymaking in Latin America and theCaribbean has been the lack of data on how much is invested in infrastructure,
how much is invested by the public and private sectors, respectively, and how thisexpenditure is shared between the different tiers of government.
In this connection, the paper by César Calderón and Luis Serven, Infrastructure in
Latin America (World Bank policy research working paper No. 5317) (2010) has
been of great use. It provided the first database on infrastructure investment in
Latin America, covering six countries in the region from 1980 to 2006, and iscurrently the series whose data reaches the furthest back in time.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

BackgroundThis line of research was taken by the Infrastructure Services Unit (ISU) ofthe Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division of ECLAC, as a permanent
initiative to build a database on economic infrastructure investment.
4,54,03,6%3,5Latin America: investment ininfrastructure, by sector, 1980-2013(Percentages of GDP)

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

3,0%

3,0
2,5

2,2%

2,2%

2,0
1,5
1,1%

1,1%
1,0
0,5

1,1%

1,0%
0,5%

1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

0,0Total infrastructure investment

Public Investment

Private investment

Source: Author, on the basis of the data from: a 1980-2006 period: Calderón, César and Luis Servén, (2010),“Infrastructure in Latin America”, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 5317, Washington, D.C., World Bank.
b 2007: ECLAC. 2008-2013 period: INFRALATAM.
Note: The following countries are included: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Data series can be disaggregated in transport, electricity,
telecommunications and water and sanitation.
4,54,03,6%

3,5Latin America: investment ininfrastructure, by infrastructure
sector, 1980-2013 (Percentages ofGDP)

2,52,2%

2,2%

2,0
1,5
1,00,51980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013

0,0

Total

Transport

Electriciity

Telecommunications

Water and sanitation

Source: Author, on the basis of the data from: a 1980-2006 period: Calderón, César and Luis Servén, (2010),“Infrastructure in Latin America”, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 5317, Washington, D.C., World Bank.
b 2007: ECLAC. 2008-2013 period: INFRALATAM.
Note: The following countries are included: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

3,0

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

INFRALATAM (http://en.infralatam.info/home ): Its objective is to measureinfrastructure investments in Latin American countries, disseminating
results and promoting analyzing their impacts.
(Officially released on August 30, 2016)

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Data were compiled, registered, processed (by INFRALATAM
http://en.infralatam.info/home ) and validated (by the countries).

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

The iniciative has infrastructure investment data for 15 countries
from 2008 to 2013(http://en.infralatam.info/home )Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

This is a dynamic project which seeks to increase its country and timecoverage, as well as to enhance the quality of the data reported.

(http://en.infralatam.info/home )Content•

I. INFRALATAM iniciative•

III. Major challenges and next steps

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG• II. Methodology

ECLAC has produced a document thatare intended to serve as a guidance
tool for the appropriate compilation,
recording, validation and processingof information on the basis ofGovernment Finance, following amechanism that facilitates thestandarization of the data, and theircomparison over time and acrosscountries.

The methodology is based on:- IMF (2001), Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001, Washington, DC.
-European Commission/IMF/OECD/UN/WB (2008), System of National Accounts 2008,
Brussels/Luxembourg, New York, Paris, Washington, D.C.
-- United Nations (2009), International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities(ISIC), Revision 4. New York.
- EC, IMF, OECD, UN y WB (2008), System of National Accounts 2008.
- OECD, ITF, Glosario de estadísticas de transporte,- Consultations with specialists.
- Others documents.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

For public sector infrastructure
investment:•

Defining the concepts of investment•From a macroeconomic statistical system, we have the Decomposition ofAggregate Demand and Supply:(1) Total Aggregate Supply =X=Total Aggregate Demand(2)
Y+T+M =X=
C+I+G+E••••••

Donde Y es el Gross Domestic Product, T taxes paid to the goverment, M total
imports, C consumer spending, I total investment , G government spending, E totalexports .

I = Private investment + Public investment

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Some fundamental concepts

•In the System of National Accounts we have the concepts of “investment” as“gross capital formation” (GCF).

•Gross capital formation (GCF) consists of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF),
changes in inventories and acquisitions (DI) less disposals of valuables (V). By
omitting the valuables (V),3 this relationship may be expressed as follows:– GCF = GFCF + DI - V– GCF = (NFCF + CFC) + DI•

Changes in inventories (DI) refer to construction or other work in progress as partof projects taking more than one year to be completed.

•Consumption of fixed capital (CFC) is the depreciation of fixed assets, as aconsequence of:– Physical deterioration,– Normal obsolescence, or– Normal accidental damage.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

METHODOLOGY• We report the following type of projects:– New projects, improvement and expansion projects.
– Replenishment Projects.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG• As Gross Capital Formation (GCF) we include projects whoselifespan exceeds a year and are subject to depreciation.

•Maintenance and repair of fixed assets are not include in the database.

•The distinction between “Maintenance and repair of fixed assets” vrs.
“major improvements” is not always obvious. Maintenance and repairs are
distinguished by two features:– (a) they are activities that owners or users of fixed assets are obliged
to undertake periodically in order to be able to utilize such assets overtheir expected service lives and– (b) they do not change the fixed asset or its performance orproductivity, but simply maintain it in good working order or restore it
to its previous condition in the event of a breakdown.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG“Maintenance and repair of fixed assets” vrs. “major improvements”
to fixed assets

The public sector and its subsectors

PublicGeneral

Corporations

Government

Financial
PublicCorporations

Nonfinancial
PublicCorporations

http://infralatam.info/

CentralGovernment

State
Government andLocal
Government

http://infralatam.org

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

PublicSector

Time of recording: accrual basis• With the use of accrual basis the effects of economic events
are recorded in the period in which they occur, irrespective ofwhether cash was received or paid, or was due to be receivedor paid.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG• The accrual basis provides the best estimation of themacroeconomic impact of government fiscal policy.

• Instructions• General data.
• Institutional coverage (may vary over time). This includes thethree levels of goverment.
• Special Funds (if there is another different source). The mostcommonly used sources of information are:
– Central Government: National Budget execution / Special
Accounts– Subnational governments: transfers from the national
budget execution, provincial, regional or local budgets
execution, special funds, etc.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Using the form

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Infrastructure sectors can be classified by government functions.

Source: Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001.

ContentI. INFRALATAM iniciative• II. Methodology• III. Major challenges and next steps

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

•••
••••

1. Increase data disaggregation (for example, inland navigation and maritime
transport are reported as a total (not dissagregated)).
2. Standarization of data (in order to obtain comparability with macroeconomic
accounts and international comparisons).
3. Improve the registration of State Government and Local Government data.
4. Recording and processing private investment in infrastructure (we are using theWorld Bank database for PPI projects).
5. Recording and processing maintenance and repair of fixed assets.
6.Other csChallenges (currently in progress):•••

Measurement of infrastructure gap
Measurement of capital stocks
Expand country coverage:–––

At the moment, we have 15 countries: Argentina, Bolivia (Estado Plurinacional de), Brasil,Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Panamá,Paraguay, Perú and Uruguay.
We are expanding the coverage to seven more countries: Belice, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica,
República Dominicana, Suriname, Trinidad y tobago.
And updating data until 2015 or 2016.

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Major challenges and next steps

Jeannette.LARDE@CEPAL.ORG

Thanks a lot.
Jeannette Lardé
Natural Resources and Infrastructure Division
ECLAC, United Nations+56 2 2210-2381

Jeannette.Larde@ECLAC.org
http://www.eclac.org/transporte
http://infralatam.org
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