Figure 1 Investment commitments to infrastructure projects.pdfVIP

d e z i r o h t u A e r u s o l c s i PPI data update note 32 December 2009 D c i l b Investment commitments and the number of new projects decline u P in the Middle East and North Africa Private activity in infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa declined sharply in 2008, according to just-released data from the Private Participation in Infrastructure Project Database. Both d investment commitments and the number of new projects declined, in both the first and second half of e z the year. Existing telecommunications operators accounted for most of the annual investment. The i r region’s share of total investment commitments in developing countries in 2008 was less than 4%, o h t down significantly from its 7.3% share in 2007. u A e In 2008, 10 infrastructure projects with private participation reached financial or contractual closure in r u 1 s six low- or middle-income countries in the region. These involve investment commitments (hereafter, o l investment) of US$2.4 billion. Infrastructure projects implemented in previous years had additional c s i commitments of US$3.6 billion, bringing total investment in 2008 to US$6 billion. This level D 2 c represented a 49% drop from that in 2007 and was the lowest since 2003 (figure 1). The decline was i l due equally to new projects and existing ones, which had similar drops in investme