At a recent CGD roundtable, water expert John Briscoe gave a whistle-stop tour of Pakistan’s water economy. In a conversation framed by comments about Pakistan’s history of resilience and ingenuity, he laid out the compelling facts about Pakistan’s dire situation:
The European Development Fund audit body just came out with a report that suggested its aid funding on roads had been less successful than expected because a lot of them were falling apart due to heavy traffic and insufficient maintenance. So this seems like a good moment to revisit the sectoral aid effectiveness debate.
This is a joint post with Julie Walz.
It is no secret that Africa faces an infrastructure crisis. The low-income economies of the region have fewer miles of paved roads and fewer modern freight and passenger-transport systems than any other region in the world. Electricity is also highly unreliable; businesses in many African countries suffer from power outages on more than half of the days they work per year. Inadequate infrastructure is cited by most African firms as the single biggest obstacle to doing business.
Last Friday, I had the pleasure of co-chairing, with research fellow Ben Leo, a CGD event on the priorities and prospects of the G-20’s recently adopted development agenda. The two panels focused on African infrastructure and global food security, the central pillars of France’s development agenda for the upcoming G-20 Summit in Cannes.
Looking for an investor with billions? Want to know where the money is? If you’re a country with a sound financial and political record seeking money for infrastructure, you can find it in the hands of “global public investors” (GPI’s), a growing group of little-known foreign investment vehicles on the prowl for safe investment opportunities.