MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Latam must double investment in infrastructure

In the immediate future, Latinamerica must invest between 150 and 200 billion US dollars a year in infrastructure in order to boost economic growth and reduce poverty, World Bank Vice President, Pamela Cox said in Lima, Peru.

The countries of the region on average invest 2% of GDP in infrastructure and that figure should increase to 4% in the coming years added Cox, who was one of the main speakers at a forum on alternatives to increase infrastructure investment in Latinamerica. Cox said the main challenges are development of telecommunications since the region is "well behind East Asia and the OECD in internet servers" as well as drinking water and sanitary conditions. The World Bank official also mentioned the electric sector which must reduce the margins between demand and supply, plus drastically cut on the electricity transmission and distribution losses. The transport network system also needs improvement. To face these objectives Cox said a "more intelligent" investment approach was needed emphasizing planning and concentrating on "strategic goals", as well as the upkeep of the resources. She added that in this undertaking "the public sector must play a leading role" in the drafting of policies and "direct involvement in the investments and risk taking". Ms Cox said the World Bank would continue to give priority to infrastructure investments in Latinamerica because they are a key element to help economic development and reduce the "social gap". According to the Ms Cox the World Bank in the last five years had extended 2 billion US dollars annually in infrastructure loans, which is 40% of the total budget for the region.