Infrastructure investment is a key priority for Countries in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe (CESEE) to accelerate the convergence of the living standards toward the level of the more advance European countries, the EU15 – says the IMF report published on 28th Sep 2020. IMF highlights the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF) as an initiative with the “aim to address infrastructure needs in CESEE”.
The report estimates that closing 50% of the infrastructure gap until 2030 would require an annual investment of 3-8% of GDP. Attracting private investors should be an important step towards achieving this ambitious challenge.
To engage investors, the state development bank of Poland, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), took the initiative to establish the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF). In the report, the IMF mentions the Three Seas Fund as one of „the several initiatives aim to address infrastructure needs in CESEE”.
“The Three Seas Fund is the economic dimension of the Three Seas Initiative. The Fund is the most important financial undertaking in Central and Eastern Europe. We set a clear goal for the Fund - financial support for infrastructure investments in the region. Such support is especially important these days as economies struggle with the effects of the COVID pandemic. The initiator and co-founder of the Fund is the Polish development bank BGK. We established the Fund together with our partners from the Romanian development bank EximBank" – says Beata Daszyńska-Muzyczka, the 3SIIF Supervisory Board Chairperson and BGK President.
The Three Seas Fund’s main objective is to invest in transport, energy and digital infrastructure on the north-south axis in the Three Seas countries and to offset the regional development differences in the European Union. The Fund is a commercial and market-driven initiative that will grant a diversified investment and an attractive return.
The IMF team also state that, if done right, infrastructure investment could yield significant dividends in the region. More and better public investment can help repair the economic damage of the pandemic, raise potential output, and speed income convergence with the EU15.
„At this time of economic slowdown, its benefits could be even larger. We estimate that for each percent of GDP spent on infrastructure, the output could rise by 0,5-0,75% in the short run and by 2-2,5% in the long run” – the report reads.
