No. 224 – Infrastructure investments in the main emerging countries

This paper surveys the current conditions and prospects for the infrastructure sector in seven large emerging countries ─ Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey ─ assessing the adequacy of their current infrastructural endowment and illustrating the latest government investment plans. It also discusses the extent of private sector involvement and the main obstacles to the realization of the planned investments, including those related to the limited availability and high costs of financing. The seven countries cited in the research, which all have large domestic markets (either effective or potential) coupled with substantial requirements for new investment in public infrastructure, are of undoubted strategic importance for Italian firms operating in the infrastructure sector and planning international expansion.