Since the start of 2020, existing infrastructure projects were delayed or cancelled due to supply chain disruptions, travel and shipping restrictions, and other obstacles. Decreased demand or required renegotiations also prevented or delayed many projects already in pipelines from achieving financial closure. Public debt globally has risen to record levels, and sovereign credit ratings have been downgraded across the developing world. The growing uncertainty amid the pandemic has also increased the risk for private sector participants in key infrastructure sectors, especially transport.
This report provides an overview into private participation in infrastructure investments in 2020. Investment commitments in infrastructure with private participation in 2020 stood at $45.7 billion across 252 projects, marking a 52% decline from 2019 levels. Private investment commitments have not fallen to these levels since 2004, when investment totaled $31.3 billion. Nevertheless, despite the ongoing pandemic, investments in the second half of the year increased by 15% from the first half of the year.
According to the report, the energy sector outpaced the transport sector in 2020, attracting $29.8 billion across 145 projects, accounting for 65% of global PPI investments, while investment commitments in the transport sector totaled $10.5 billion across 41 projects, a 78% decrease from 2019 levels. The disruption caused by the global pandemic, however, does not seem to have affected the longer-term shift towards renewable energy. The private sector is on board with most elements of the agenda; of the 129 electricity-generation projects, 117 were in renewables.