Abstract:
The rapid rate of changes, being a result of the technical and technological progress, forces us to increase investments in infrastructures, which leads to an increased demand for funding. Even though multilateral banks play a significant role in securing the structure of infrastructure investment funding, there still remains the issue of finding and tailoring some supplementary sources of finance such as public-private partnerships (PPP), private infrastructure funds, special public funds or bonds. The issue of insufficient financial resources to cover the costs of infrastructure projects regards mainly global, continental and strategic national projects. Smaller investments, i.e. on a regional or local scale, are less vulnerable to the risk of failure to achieve a financial close. Regardless of the investment size and its significance for the global, national or regional economic development, issues related to funding sources selection or mitigation of risks connected with their application can be identified in any public infrastructure project.
The purpose of this study is to analyse the structure of infrastructure projects financing, applying a global approach. The research study was based on secondary data, using the statistical data published by specialised agencies, periodic newspapers or magazines. Applying the descriptive and comparative method, the study also included a literature review and a review of statistical data published by specialised agencies engaged in evaluation of the global infrastructure market, paying particular attention to its geographical structure. The study, being a research contribution characterised by considerable applicability, takes the form of a review of the literature on the subject, the published statistics and own observations of many years’ standing related to the infrastructure projects financing market.
In addition to capital contributions of public partners in the form of contributions in kind and obtained budget surpluses as well as private contributions in the form of shares, the basic source of funding of infrastructure projects are loans contracted in commercial banks. Another important group of debt instruments are loans provided by multilateral financial institutions. Other forms of financing such as bond issues, equity issues or equity interests are of far less significant, though nonetheless increasing importance on the international financial market.
The total value of infrastructure investments all over the world in 2020 amounted to USD 1,426,106 million and it rose by over USD 220 billion in relation to 2019. The hitherto unprecedented situation in the world and on the global markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also resulted in changes in the economy, particularly in the tourism, transport and recreation sectors. The study of funding aspects of infrastructure investments in individual geographic areas covered a 4-year period from 2017 to 2020. The review has shown that the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over the two recent years did not lead to any major changes to infrastructure projects funding in individual regions of the world. The actions taken mainly in the form of increased bond issues did not allow for a significant decrease in infrastructure funding or its hindering. What is more, in most regions of the world an increased level of infrastructure funding was observed.
