Independent Evaluation Services in Support of the El Salvador Investment Climate Project and the Guatemala Private–Public Partnerships Activity
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Independent Evaluation Services in Support of the El Salvador Investment Climate Project and the Guatemala Private–Public Partnerships Activity

Published: Sep 09, 2024
Global Education and Workforce Development Agriculture and Food Systems Transportation Global Health and Development Research and Evaluation Evaluation Design Surveys and Data Collection Advanced Analytics

Authors

Ivonne Padilla

Ale Aponte

Naomi Dorsey

Oliver Martinez Lopez

Randall Blair

Key Findings

    • Mathematica estimated three distinct Economic Rates of Return (ERRs) for the El Salvador Investment Climate Project. Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) was estimated to be 11.4 percent, El Salvador Investment Challenge (ESIC) was 12.9 percent; and the Regulatory Improvement Activity (RIA) was 13.5 percent, suggesting that they are cost-effective.
    • In El Salvador and Guatemala, key features of the PPP enabling environment-such as political support, institutional capacity, and a clear legal and institutional framework-have eroded since 2021.
    • The El Salvador Investment Challenge accelerated private investment around its public infrastructure investments, but additional investment from firms is not expected in the long term.
    • Government institutions in El Salvador have utilized the regulatory improvement tools to assess the costs and benefits of regulations and reduced unnecessary burdens on businesses.
MCC’s $271 million El Salvador Investment Compact (2015–2020) aimed to improve El Salvador’s competitiveness by increasing private investment through the $41 million Investment Climate Project, comprising the El Salvador Investment Challenge (ESIC), Regulatory Improvement Activity (RIA), and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) Activity. MCC’s $27.3 million Guatemala Threshold Program (2016–2021) aimed to catalyze private investment in infrastructure through its $1.5 million Public-Private Partnership Activity. MCC commissioned Mathematica to conduct independent performance evaluations of the El Salvador Investment Climate Project and the Guatemala Public-Private Partnerships Activity.

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