THE INFRASTRUCTURE GAP IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
How much does the region need to invest in infrastructure to achieve its development goals?
2026
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Latin America and the Caribbean have made significant progress in their infrastructure services in recent years. By 2026, the region will have higher coverage levels, improved service quality, and greater resilience to disruptions compared to previous years. However, significant challenges remain in ensuring accessible, high-quality, and resilient infrastructure services that will sustain the region's human and economic development through 2030.
Updated estimates confirm that investment requirements remain high in strategic sectors such as transport, water and sanitation, electricity and telecommunications, and that investment levels observed in recent years have been insufficient to meet established goals.
At the same time, the evolution observed in the coverage and quality indicators was more favorable than expected based on the reported investment levels, highlighting the existing limitations in adequately measuring investment in infrastructure, both public and private.
Closing the infrastructure gap will require Latin America and the Caribbean to increase investment by 112%, from 1.67% of GDP to 3.53%.
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Between 2015 and 2023, the annual average of public and private investment in the water and sanitation, electricity, transport and telecommunications sectors was 1.67% of GDP.
This means that Latin America and the Caribbean need to invest
US$1,595,965 million by 2030 to achieve their infrastructure development goals.
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE VS. MAINTENANCE AND REPLACEMENT OF ASSETS BY SUBSECTORS
Of that total,00 % must be allocated to investments in new infrastructure and % to investments in maintenance and replacement of assets that reach the end of their useful life and are essential for infrastructure services to be provided with adequate quality standards.
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE VS. MAINTENANCE AND REPLACEMENT OF ASSETS BY SUBSECTORS AND COUNTRIES
EPPUR SI MUOVE: THE EVOLUTION OF INFRASTRUCTURE GAPS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 2021-2026
Juan Pablo Brichetti, Eduardo Cavallo, Diego Pitetti, Carlos León-Gómez
View Publication - 2021
View 2021 - 2026 Comparison