Skip to main content

IMF: Time is right for an infrastructure push

A new study published in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook suggests there is a strong case for advanced economies to take advantage of low borrowing costs to increase spending on key infrastructure projects. The study examines the effects of public investment in a large number of countries; it claims that many advanced economies are stuck in a low growth and high unemployment environment and borrowing costs are low. The report says ‘an increase in infrastructure investmen
October 6, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
A new study published in the 7899 International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook suggests there is a strong case for advanced economies to take advantage of low borrowing costs to increase spending on key infrastructure projects.

The study examines the effects of public investment in a large number of countries; it claims that many advanced economies are stuck in a low growth and high unemployment environment and borrowing costs are low.

The report says ‘an increase in infrastructure investment could provide a much-needed fillip to demand, and it is one of the few remaining policy levers available to support growth, given already accommodative monetary policy.’

In many emerging market and developing economies, infrastructure bottlenecks are putting a brake on how quickly these economies can grow. In these regions, investment ‘could help address existing and nascent infrastructure bottlenecks,’ according to the report, going on to say ‘and in all economies it would help boost medium-term output, as higher infrastructure capital stocks expand productive capacity.’

Related Content

  • ITS needs continuity at the policy-making level
    February 1, 2012
    ITS needs to be sold to politicians in plainer terms and we need to be encouraging greater continuity at the policy-making level says Josef Czako, chairman of the IRF's Policy Committee on ITS. At the ITS World Congress in New York in 2008, the International Road Federation (IRF) held the inaugural meeting of its Policy Committee on ITS. The Policy Committee's formation, says its chairman, Kapsch's Josef Czako, reflects an ongoing concern over the lack of deployment of ITS technology on roads in anything li
  • Regional, national managed enforcement for developing nations
    February 3, 2012
    Robot is offering nationwide enforcement services to both developed and developing countries.
  • Is Europe's Galileo project value for money?
    February 2, 2012
    Philippe Hamet discusses the progress of the European Union's Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System Project
  • Countering congestion’s cost
    May 6, 2015
    A new report on the economic costs of traffic congestion predicts the problem will worsen significantly in future. Jon Masters reviews the figures and some suggested solutions. New figures on the rising economic and environmental costs of congestion have been published by the US traffic data specialist Inrix and the UK’s Centre for Economics & Business Research (Cebr). Their report finds the problem much bigger than previously thought.