What impact will the UK’s decision to leave the European Union have on its infrastructure? Lynn Strongin Dodds investigates.
“To think that the UK would have Brexit and that somehow infrastructure would be isolated from the impact is a little bit unrealistic. The country is known for its stable transparent regulatory regime as well as economy and banking system. Brexit has shaken this.”
Boe Pahari, AMP Capital
As with so many other aspects of post-Brexit life, the future of UK infrastructure elicits different opinions. Many fund managers overseeing the asset class are relatively optimistic about its prospects while some industry experts are less sanguine. The answer may be somewhere in the middle but for now it is difficult to predict the outcome.
“To think that the UK would have Brexit and that somehow infrastructure would be isolated from the impact is a little bit unrealistic,” says Boe Pahari, global head of infrastructure equity and managing director at AMP Capital. “The country is known for its stable transparent regulatory regime as well as economy and banking system. Brexit has shaken this and the government needs to carefully consider how it negotiates, because attracting foreign net inflows is mission critical.”
There is no doubt that infrastructure is one of the cornerstones of Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond’s plan to boost the UK economy. The government has pledged £100bn of funding by 2021 under the National Infrastructure Delivery Plan (NIDP) and there is a significant pipeline. However, in order for it to be delivered, this public money will need to be matched by private investment for key UK projects.
