InfraTracker

Purpose

The aim of InfraTracker is to help governments shape programs and budgets that achieve the best outcomes by allowing them to research and compare approaches to infrastructure spending and the outcomes being targeted by other governments.

The InfraTracker tool does this by presenting an estimate of the planned annual public investment in infrastructure for each of the 25 G20 member and guest economies, which has been validated through a process approved by G20 countries leading up to the endorsement of the InfraTracker by the G20 as a deliverable under the Indonesian G20 Presidency in 2022.

The estimate presented by InfraTracker illuminates how governments are responding to recent market conditions and how infrastructure investment is being used to tackle international and national challenges like climate change and social inequality.

The data presented in the tool are primarily derived from the latest publicly available central government budget documents (as of September 2022), then validated with the country where possible. The tool is not intended to be a statistical estimate of total spending. Rather, it is an aggregate of the latest budgets of central governments that provides an up-to-date view of how central governments are responding to recent market conditions and priorities. The data are for informational purposes only and may not be exhaustive.

InfraTracker encompasses three core components:

Although InfraTracker includes estimates of central government transfers to other government levels for investments in infrastructure,^[1] the GI Hub recognises that the decentralisation of functions and finance for infrastructure investments differs by country, and the capital transfers shown in the InfraTracker are underestimated as they exclude investments directly planned by public entities outside of central government. InfraTracker does not capture investment directly planned by subnational levels of government or other public entities (such as state-owned enterprises), given the significant challenges of collecting such data.

Data sources and approach

Data for InfraTracker 2022 were collected from April to June 2022 and primarily sourced from the most recent, publicly available central government budgets. In some cases, the GI Hub has received data from countries directly, which have not been previously published by the countries and which are incorporated into the final estimates included in the InfraTracker. Planned investment amounts are captured for calendar year 2022.^[2]

As infrastructure investments are captured differently in budget documents across the G20, a bespoke methodology was developed for each individual economy. These methodologies reflect the degree of data availability and granularity contained within budget documents and associated data tables, which varied considerably across the G20. For example, when it was not possible to identify details on capital expenditure, a bespoke approach was developed to estimate investment and remove operational expenditures. The approach in this case was to apply an assumption of 50% as a proxy to the figures for all economic infrastructure sectors, and 5% to all social infrastructure sectors. These proxy figures were sourced through secondary research on the capex ratio for infrastructure sectors in several countries. For some countries, the GI Hub has also applied judgement based on descriptions of budget line items in order to determine whether the amount was likely to be capex or opex, where this was not explicitly stated in budget documents or associated data tables.

Following data collection, a G20 member-led review and validation process was undertaken and was completed between April and August 2022. During this validation phase, the GI Hub worked with each country to identify unexpected trends and missing data, to verify assumptions, and to gather additional information to fill in any gaps. It should be noted that while every effort has been made, not all countries were able to fully validate all their information, given the considerable resources required to do so.

Sector classification

InfraTracker tracks investments in both economic and social infrastructure sectors. The sector and subsector classifications used are provided in the table below.

Transformative Outcomes analysis

InfraTracker also presents analyses that assess how infrastructure investment is being used to tackle international and national infrastructure challenges like climate change and social inequalities. Budgeted public investment in infrastructure was mapped to 13 transformative outcomes, which can be used to (1) visualise the transformative outcomes being targeted, and compare them proportionally, and (2) see which outcomes are being targeted in which sectors.

The transformative outcomes and methodological framework are presented in the table below.