Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries
Evidence of public expenditure on infrastructure is extremely sparse. Little is known about the trends and patterns of infrastructure expenditure, and there is no real basis for assessing the adequacy and efficiency of infrastructure spending. Draw...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/727991642167519238/Understanding-Public-Spending-Trends-for-Infrastructure-in-Developing-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36849 |
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okr-10986-368492022-01-21T05:10:37Z Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries Foster, Vivien Rana, Anshul Gorgulu, Nisan PUBLIC SPENDING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT ROAD SPENDING ELECTRICITY FISCAL POLICY Evidence of public expenditure on infrastructure is extremely sparse. Little is known about the trends and patterns of infrastructure expenditure, and there is no real basis for assessing the adequacy and efficiency of infrastructure spending. Drawing on the World Bank’s novel BOOST database, this paper provides a first relatively disaggregated picture of infrastructure spending trends and patterns for a large sample of more than 70 developing countries covering 2010–18, drilling down into expenditure by sector for roads as well as electricity, and distinguishing operating from capital expenditure. Complementary sources of data are tapped to allow comparison between expenditure patterns on and off budget. The study finds that on-budget expenditure on infrastructure has been low both in absolute terms (1 percent of gross domestic product) and relative terms (5 percent of total public spending), as well as declining over time. Overall, infrastructure spending declined by about one-third over 2010–18 (with the road sector bearing the brunt of the decrease), and now lies well below estimates of the required levels, except in a handful of cases. There is evidence that low-income countries, despite lower spending envelopes, attach greater priority to public investment and infrastructure spending than their middle-income counterparts. Econometric analysis suggests that infrastructure spending in low- and middle-income countries has been historically procyclical, although to a lesser degree than total expenditure. In the transport sector, road funds are shown to play a substantial role in funding road maintenance, appearing to improve the adequacy of funding, while attenuating pronounced capital biases in road sector spending, but there is little evidence of efficiency improvements over time. 2022-01-20T17:38:53Z 2022-01-20T17:38:53Z 2022-01 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/727991642167519238/Understanding-Public-Spending-Trends-for-Infrastructure-in-Developing-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36849 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9903 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
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Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
PUBLIC SPENDING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT ROAD SPENDING ELECTRICITY FISCAL POLICY |
| spellingShingle |
PUBLIC SPENDING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN INFRASTRUCTURE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT ROAD SPENDING ELECTRICITY FISCAL POLICY Foster, Vivien Rana, Anshul Gorgulu, Nisan Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9903 |
| description |
Evidence of public expenditure on
infrastructure is extremely sparse. Little is known about
the trends and patterns of infrastructure expenditure, and
there is no real basis for assessing the adequacy and
efficiency of infrastructure spending. Drawing on the World
Bank’s novel BOOST database, this paper provides a first
relatively disaggregated picture of infrastructure spending
trends and patterns for a large sample of more than 70
developing countries covering 2010–18, drilling down into
expenditure by sector for roads as well as electricity, and
distinguishing operating from capital expenditure.
Complementary sources of data are tapped to allow comparison
between expenditure patterns on and off budget. The study
finds that on-budget expenditure on infrastructure has been
low both in absolute terms (1 percent of gross domestic
product) and relative terms (5 percent of total public
spending), as well as declining over time. Overall,
infrastructure spending declined by about one-third over
2010–18 (with the road sector bearing the brunt of the
decrease), and now lies well below estimates of the required
levels, except in a handful of cases. There is evidence that
low-income countries, despite lower spending envelopes,
attach greater priority to public investment and
infrastructure spending than their middle-income
counterparts. Econometric analysis suggests that
infrastructure spending in low- and middle-income countries
has been historically procyclical, although to a lesser
degree than total expenditure. In the transport sector, road
funds are shown to play a substantial role in funding road
maintenance, appearing to improve the adequacy of funding,
while attenuating pronounced capital biases in road sector
spending, but there is little evidence of efficiency
improvements over time. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Foster, Vivien Rana, Anshul Gorgulu, Nisan |
| author_facet |
Foster, Vivien Rana, Anshul Gorgulu, Nisan |
| author_sort |
Foster, Vivien |
| title |
Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| title_short |
Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| title_full |
Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| title_fullStr |
Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Understanding Public Spending Trends for Infrastructure in Developing Countries |
| title_sort |
understanding public spending trends for infrastructure in developing countries |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2022 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/undefined/727991642167519238/Understanding-Public-Spending-Trends-for-Infrastructure-in-Developing-Countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36849 |
| _version_ |
1764486020684840960 |