Private Activity in Infrastructure Reached a New Peak in 2007

The report is about the private participation in infrastructure database. Energy and telecommunications drove most of the year's growth. Energy had growth of 96 percent, reaching its second highest level since 1990. Telecommunications saw an increase of 13 percent to its highest level ever. The sector accounted for 47 percent of investment in 2007. Transport had a 7 percent decline, but the level in 2007 was still the second highest for the sector. Water investment amounted to US$3 billion, well below the peak of 1997 but within the US$2-3 billion range of the previous three years. The number of private infrastructure projects implemented in 2007 fell by 7 percent to 288. But the situation varied across sectors. The number of projects rose by about 8 percent in energy and in water and sewerage, while it dropped by 12 percent in telecommunications and by more than 25 percent in transport. The report concludes, continuing the trends of the previous five years, private activity in 2007 was more evenly distributed across regions than it had been during the boom of the late 1990s.