The World's $49 Trillion Infrastructure Problem May Not Get Solved Anytime Soon
Pedestrians walk under an elevated highway shrouded in smog in New Delhi, India, on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. A 2-judge Delhi High Court panel headed by Chief Justice G. Rohini allowed the odd-even traffic restrictions to continue. The measure by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the most concerted effort by the government yet to reduce the number of exhaust-belching automobiles in the world's most polluted metropolitan area as discontent among the city's 16.8 million residents grows.
Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/BloombergAn abundance of global savings. Trillions of dollars of negative-yielding bonds. And a bevy of institutional investors hungry for positive, long-dated yields to match their liabilities.
Conditions are ripe for an avalanche of private-sector capital to flow into unlisted infrastructure, turning an industry facing an estimated $49 trillion shortfall into an asset class which, its sponsors say, offers strong cash flows, uncorrelated returns and positive real yields.