Letter to the FT - US infrastructure gap has lessons for other nations

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' (IFoA's) letter to the Editor of the Financial Times, in response to Sam Fleming's article US: Neglected nation (10 May) has been published today, 17 May 2016.

Download the IFoA's letter, or read the full text below:

Sir

I read Sam Fleming’s article on the crumbling US infrastructure (The Big Read, May 11) with great interest.  Fleming highlights the growing infrastructure investment gap in the US which the UK would do well to take note of. 

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has recently published a paper exploring the UK’s own infrastructure investment gap, which shows that we too have a serious problem with lack of investment. 

Fleming explores obstacles in the US to potential sources of funding from national and local government and the private sector.  In the UK the outlook is somewhat more positive as these obstacles are less severe. 

For example, there is more political consensus that something needs to be done, as evidenced by the Government’s creation of the National Infrastructure Commission, which we believe represents a big opportunity to reverse years of underinvestment.  We also have better developed public private partnerships in the UK. 

It remains to be seen how the UK will address these funding issues once the Commission is more well-established.  We at the IFoA would stress that the best, and perhaps only, way forward is for the roles of national and local government and the private sector to complement each other, not compete with each other.

 

Brandon Horwitz
Finance and Investment Board Chair
Institute and Faculty of Actuaries