Annotation "In recent years, the countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region have experienced a marked decline in the interest of international private operators and investors in municipal infrastructure projects, in line with the trend experienced in other emerging markets. The objective of this paper is to explore the possible innovative elements of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in an effort to rekindle the sagging private finance interest in municipal infrastructure in the ECA Region. The contemplated PPP model would involve government, municipalities, Local Infrastructure Investment Trusts, private equity funds and/or turnaround advisors, and International Financial Institutions."

It also reviews investors' attitudes toward future PPI in ECA, drawing on key findings of existing surveys and on anecdotal evidence from interviews with private equity investors."--Jacket.

The recent international financial crisis has significantly affected Governments' ability to invest in infrastructure in Europe and Central Asia, with no counterbalancing effects by the private sector. The study identifies the issues dampening private participation in infrastructure in the region and recommends possible practical solutions.

This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the World Bank shows the substantial progress the Bank has made, this mainly through the dictionary section with concise entries on its component institutions, related organizations, its achievements in various fields, some of the major projects and member countries, and its various presidents. The introduction explains how the Bank works while the chronology traces the major events over nearly 70 years. Meanwhile, the list of acronyms reminds us just who the main players are. And the bibliography directs readers to useful internal documentation and outside studies.

This book highlights the need to boost infrastructure investment in cities as also the necessity for fiscal management across all levels of government-within the context of decentralizing service delivery responsibilities. The volume provides case studies reflecting various viewpoints and a range of success and failure stories from five countries. The topics covered include: - Impact of political and fiscal decentralization - Limitations on borrowing - Managing moral hazard - The role of the financial sector in striking a balance between controls and encouraging the local government to maintain fiscal discipline

Structured Finance in Latin America explores how structured finance mechanisms can channel pension savings to support projects in underserved sectors, deepen capital markets, and contribute to investment and economic growth. Private pension funds have been accumulating assets rapidly in the wake of pension system reforms in many Latin American countries. Strict investment regulations to protect workers' savings have limited their investment in highly creditworthy domestic securities, yet pension fund demand for new securities has outstripped issuance of eligible traditional corporate debt instruments. This has contributed to a high concentration of pension fund assets in public debt. Innovative structured finance mechanisms can help bring to the market a new set of creditworthy securities backed by pools of loans to small borrowers, mortgage loans or the expected proceeds of large infrastructure projects. These mechanisms create new investment opportunities for pension funds, while establishing additional sources of funding for underserved market segments. Policy makers and regulatory authorities have a catalytic role to play in the development of structured finance securities by establishing a conducive legal, regulatory, and tax framework. Structured Finance in Latin America serves as a practical guide for development practitioners, policy makers, and others working in government, international or nongovernmental organizations, and financial institutions, who focus on finance and investment; infrastructure, transport, and urban development; housing finance; small and medium-sized enterprise development; and pension reform.

This is a self-contained text on the logic and institutions of project finance, supplemented by a series of project finance case studies illustrating applications in different economic environments, across different jurisdictions and at different stages of development. It will introduce an analytical framework drawing on applied institutional economics that includes and concentrates primarily on an analysis of the institutional logic behind generic project finance arrangements. The application of the institutional framework will be demonstrated with project cases from Hong Kong, Thailand, India, Europe and Azerbaijan – each at different stages of development. While each project case will have a general theme and will highlight aspects of interest to built environment professionals, it will primarily be used to illustrate one or more specific PF/PFI principle.

This book aims to discover the conditions under which public private partnerships may provide a viable alternative to the provision of public services and infrastructures by the state, while achieving efficient, sustainable, peaceful, and equitable development in four transition countries: China, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.

During the 1990s, the governments of South Asian countries acted as ‘facilitators’ to attract FDI. As a result, the inflow of FDI increased. However, to become an attractive FDI destination as China, Singapore, or Brazil, South Asia has to improve the local conditions of doing business. This book, based on research that blends theory, empirical evidence, and policy, asks and attempts to answer a few core questions relevant to FDI policy in South Asian countries: Which major reforms have succeeded? What are the factors that influence FDI inflows? What has been the impact of FDI on macroeconomic performance? Which policy priorities/reforms needed to boost FDI are pending? These questions and answers should interest policy makers, academics, and all those interested in FDI in the South Asian region and in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

While South Asia’s economic reform initiatives of the last two decades were often born in crisis, this alone does not account for their occurrence. This book looks at the processes and institutional arrangements behind these reforms, and analyses what lessons can be learnt about how South Asia can improve its policy efficiency. The book develops ideas about how to overcome the political restraints to reform by drawing on recent theories of political economy and policy learning. It tests these ideas against authoritative case studies of actual reform initiatives in South Asia, which illustrate processes and institutional arrangements that have helped South Asian governments to sustain reform efforts, even in the absence of a strong political base. This offers valuable lessons for the global economy as it moves into a phase of rebalancing, with the structural adjustments that this will require. The book goes on to identify weaknesses that could be addressed by South Asian national governments and regional forums. It is an important contribution to studies on South Asian Politics and International Political Economy