Fiscal Feasibility Assessment Applied to Transport Infrastructure Projects

Abstract

[EN] The demand for transport infrastructure investment is a latent issue for several countries, mainly for developing countries. However, investments in major logistics projects should be carefully evaluated, in order that their deployment induces development without endangering fiscal sustainability by excessive public indebtedness. Fiscal accounting practices used currently in the feasibility studies of transport infrastructures in Brazil are very limited, as they do not consider indirect and induced effects of the infrastructure investment in the fiscal evaluation. In addition, the corresponding influence area has not an established delimitation method. The aim of the present paper is to develop a model for calculating economic and fiscal impacts of transport infrastructure investment projects that includes the direct, indirect and induced effects within a reference area do be determined. First, different project assessment guides in Brazil and abroad are examined with a special focus on the assessment of economic and fiscal impacts of the projects. Based on the assessment experience and on the definition of the fiscal balance of an infrastructure project, the next step sets up a framework for the calculation of the impacts, using more simplified data.