The fight against COVID-19 won’t be over for some time, but it is heartening to see cities and towns in some of the hardest hit countries starting to reopen.
The GI Hub is currently supporting the G20’s Action Plan in Response to COVID-19 with a dedicated piece of work on the role of infrastructure spending in previous economic recoveries and a review of the lessons from successful cases.
We know there is a strong rationale for investing in infrastructure during ‘normal’ times as quality infrastructure investments support longer term productivity. Our early research confirms that in the current environment, the magnitude of the positive effects will depend on:
• the capacity of public institutions to manage the nature and quality of the investment
• the better integrated planning across infrastructure sectors in pursuit of sustainable growth
• the size and labour intensity of construction activity.
We presented our initial findings at the G20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting last week, and look forward to sharing more publicly in the coming weeks.
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