For a long time, mapping and geospatial systems were mostly seen as specialised tools used by utilities, governments, and infrastructure operators. Today, they have become central to how organisations manage assets, plan cities, operate transport systems, monitor utilities, and even support emergency response networks.

As those systems become more advanced, the pressure on data quality has grown enormously.

Many organisations are now dealing with huge amounts of infrastructure and location-based data spread across multiple systems. In many cases, the challenge is no longer collecting information. It is making sure the information is accurate, organised, and usable.

That is where both VertiGIS and 1Spatial have built their businesses.

VertiGIS has developed software platforms that help organisations manage and visualise geospatial information, particularly across utilities and infrastructure-heavy industries.

1Spatial built its reputation around improving the quality and management of complex location data.

In simple terms, one company focused heavily on how organisations use geospatial information, while the other focused on making sure that information is reliable in the first place.

The two companies already had a long-standing relationship before the acquisition, which is one reason the deal feels relatively aligned compared to many large technology mergers.

For VertiGIS, the acquisition also opens the door to broader international expansion.

1Spatial has established operations and customer relationships across the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and the United States. That immediately strengthens VertiGIS’ global footprint at a time when demand for smarter infrastructure systems continues to rise worldwide.

Artificial intelligence may be changing industries rapidly, but poor-quality data remains one of the biggest problems organisations face when trying to modernise operations. Even the most advanced systems struggle when the underlying information is inconsistent or incomplete.

That reality has made data management companies like 1Spatial increasingly valuable.

VertiGIS described the acquisition as part of its effort to build more intelligent and insight-driven geospatial networks.

The acquisition process has been unfolding for months. VertiGIS first announced its interest in acquiring 1Spatial earlier this year, with the deal later moving through shareholder approvals and regulatory reviews before officially closing.

The post VertiGIS to acquire 1Spatial, blend geospatial software with quality data appeared first on International Finance.

Think of a transshipment port as a giant sorting centre for cargo. Ships offload containers there, and smaller vessels carry them to their final destinations. Right now, Vietnam depends heavily on foreign ports, mainly in Singapore and Malaysia, for this kind of work. Can Gio is designed to change that.

The project is led by Terminal Investment Limited (TiL), the port-building arm of MSC, the world’s largest shipping company. TiL owns 49% of the venture. The Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) holds 36%, and Saigon Port holds the remaining 15%.

The port will be built in Can Gio district, at the mouth of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai river, and will cover roughly 571 hectares with a 7.5-kilometre berth line along the water. The first phase will have two to four berths capable of handling 250,000-ton ships.

By 2030, it should be processing 4.8 million containers (measured in TEUs, the standard shipping unit) per year. At full build-out in 2047, it will have 13 berths with an annual capacity of 16.9 million TEUs, enough to dock the largest cargo ships in the world, which carry up to 24,000 containers in a single voyage.

The economic upside for Vietnam is substantial. The port is expected to generate annual revenues between VND 34 and 40 trillion, equivalent to roughly $1.52 billion. It will also create between 6,000 and 8,000 direct jobs. Beyond the terminal itself, the project will spur coastal urban development and the construction of a dedicated sea-crossing bridge connecting Can Gio to the wider transport network.

For Vietnam, this is about more than shipping. It is part of a broader strategy to attract manufacturing that is moving out of China, reduce its dependence on foreign logistics middlemen, and lower costs for its own exporters.

The post Vietnam Port Can Gio to grab business moving out of China appeared first on International Finance.

To address the growing budget deficit, Baghdad issued around $2.3 billion in bonds for local banks last month, according to the Iraqi studies arm of the Rawabet Research Centre based in Amman.

“This decision has generated a lot of debate on the financial and economic state of Iraq as well as the policies the government is using to address this state given its strong reliance on crude exports,” it stated.

Iraq has set aside more than $100 billion for projects, the report mentioned, adding, “This means spending is set to surge while oil prices seem to be weakening…The question is whether Iraq will be able to fund those projects.”

Loan Frenzy

Iraq’s recent actions have demonstrated the opposite, despite repeated official assurances that the financial condition is strong. The Gulf country has been stepping up borrowing as the 2025 draft budget stays sealed in the cabinet drawers and parliament begs for access.

The Finance Ministry issued bonds valued at more than seven trillion Iraqi dinars ($5.4 billion) specifically to pay public officials in the first quarter of this year. Still, these were inadequate resources. Recently, the cabinet authorised the Finance Ministry to remove over IQD3 trillion ($2.3 billion) from five-year tax savings.

A cabinet letter requested the Finance Ministry to pay civil servant salaries for April and the next months using the tax money.

The Arabic language letter, “Cabinet Decision number 294, 2025,” said that monies may be put back into the tax savings if liquidity becomes available.

With an average crude oil price of nearly $72, Baghdad generated over IQD30 trillion ($23 billion), according to Nabil Al-Marsoumi, an economics professor at Basra University in southern Iraq.

“Yet it issued bonds with a value of more than IQD7 trillion and has used over IQD3 trillion in tax savings just to pay government employees. It looks like Iraq’s financial situation is getting worse in line with declining oil prices, which might keep declining to reach $50 a barrel,” Al-Marsoumi wrote in a Facebook post recently.

Reliance On Income From Oil Sales

With about four million daily crude barrel production, Iraq depends mostly on unpredictable oil sales for around 90% of its national income. Iraq has struggled with significant budgetary deficits over the past several years after a spike in spending and a lack of significant income growth.

In local newspaper comments, an adviser to Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani stated the 2025 budget has a projected deficit of roughly IQD64 trillion ($49 billion), and the actual gap could expand if oil prices continue below $70.

According to Mudhar Saleh in the official daily Al-Sabah, spending will exceed IQD 200 trillion ($153 billion), which is equal to the 2024 budget.

“A budget deficit of almost IQD64 trillion is expected this year…The sponsorship will come from Home Sources. The situation might escalate if Iraq’s crude shipments fall below 3.4 million barrels per day and oil prices stay below $70 per barrel,” the expert commented.

Based on an average oil price of $70 a barrel and crude exports of 3.4 million bpd, Iraq adopted its first three-year budget for the period 2023–2025 in mid-2023. Although there was a $49 billion shortage, annual spending was fixed at roughly $153 billion and Parliament let the Finance Ministry adjust expenditures over the year based on the state of the oil market.

International Lending Landscape

Iraq might progressively rely more on foreign financial institutions, including the World Bank, regional development banks, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to balance its budget and protect intended infrastructure spending.

Iraq has always been hesitant to accept strict terms tied to IMF loans, but the size of its present deficit may provide few options. Iraq might also seek bilateral partners like China, which has shown a keen taste for Middle Eastern strategic investments—often via infrastructure-for-oil arrangements.

Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE may intervene, particularly if concerns about political alignment and regional stability are present. Any such participation, meanwhile, is probably dependent on Baghdad proving better fiscal openness and governance.

Iraq might have to aggressively promote private sector involvement through public-private partnerships (PPPs) given its present financial limits. By using private funds and experience running major projects, these models can enable the government to share financial risk.

Foreign and domestic investors could find sectors such as renewable energy, housing, and tourism especially appealing if Iraq can create regulatory clarity and reduce political and security concerns.

Although legal systems, including Iraq’s Investment Law No. 13 of 2006, have been changed to promote international investment, real application is still uneven. Simplifying processes, guaranteeing contract compliance, and providing sovereign guarantees could inspire investor confidence and help Iraq rely less on government financing.

Reform Programme

Whether from domestic, regional, or international sources, financial help will probably call for structural changes from Iraq. Top of the list is diversifying its economy outside of oil, thereby empowering sectors including services, manufacturing, and agriculture. Equally important are reforms of the bloated public sector, corruption control, improved revenue collecting, and institutional governance strengthening.

Under earlier IMF Stand-By Agreements, Iraq has already implemented modest fiscal changes, including payroll checks and subsidy cuts. Public opposition and ingrained political interests have, however, sometimes diluted execution. Driven by political unity and backed by technocratic leadership, a rejuvenated reform agenda might open much-needed financing and increase long-term fiscal sustainability.

Examining Iraq’s $100 billion project list closely reveals ambitious aims in many different fields. Rebuilding war-torn bridges and highways, modernising electrical systems, and growing metropolitan transit systems constitute part of the infrastructure expenditures. With multiple new gas and solar projects under development, Baghdad wants to boost capacity and lower reliance on Iranian electricity imports in the power industry.

Baghdad also prioritises improvements in water infrastructure, particularly in the southern provinces that are experiencing severe shortages. To meet a nationwide need, the government has proposed building well over one million reasonably priced homes.

Another area of emphasis with new hotels and facilities scheduled is tourism, especially religious and cultural travel focused on locations like Karbala and Najaf. Although these projects have enormous transforming power, their execution depends on institutional capacity as well as money.

Geopolitical Dangers

The geographic setting of Iraq also affects its capacity to draw and maintain financial inflows. Policy uncertainty has resulted from internal political unrest, regular leadership changes, and disputes between the federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. Externally, Iraq is still enmeshed in the power struggle between the United States and Iran, which frequently takes shape on Iraqi territory via militias and political proxies.

These characteristics increase the perceived risk of doing business in the nation, therefore complicating international investment and credit. Moreover, any escalation of regional conflicts—such as those involving neighbouring Syria or tensions in the Persian Gulf—could divert funds and impede project execution. Iraq will have to negotiate these geopolitical currents with a balanced foreign policy to keep investor trust.

Social Impact

Public morale, jobs, and social stability would all directly suffer depending on whether Iraq’s infrastructure aspirations succeed or fail. Project implementation delays could cause growing public discontent, particularly among young people who suffer high unemployment rates. On the other hand, if carried out properly, the $100 billion strategy may boost the quality of life for millions of people, promote private business, and generate jobs.

Managing expectations will depend mostly on open government communication on project progress, financial situations, and deadlines. Holding authorities responsible and guaranteeing efficient use of money will also depend much on civil society organisations, professional associations, and the media. Delivering on these promises might be a turning moment for national recovery at a period when social cohesiveness is brittle and public institution trust is low.

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The Saudi Press Agency reported that Saleh Al-Jasser, the minister of transport and logistics services, made the announcement of these initiatives at a ceremony that was attended by high-ranking officials and business executives.

In keeping with the objectives of “Vision 2030” economic diversification agenda and the “National Transport and Logistics Strategy,” the ministry’s larger plan to speed up digitalisation includes the new centre and platform.

One of the main goals of these initiatives is to raise the transportation and logistics industry’s share of the Kingdom’s GDP from 6% in 2021 to 10% by 2030. This would result in yearly non-oil revenue increases of an additional SR45 billion (USD 11.9 billion).

“The NTLS gives operational enhancements and infrastructure development top priority in order to accomplish these objectives. The 1,300 km land bridge project and an approximate 8,080 km expansion of the railway network are among the main plans,” Saudi Press Agency stated.

Port infrastructure will also be improved to handle more than 40 million containers a year. In addition to expanding international flight destinations to more than 250, the “National Transport and Logistics Strategy” strategy aims to increase air freight capacity to over four and five million tonnes annually.

Enhancing service quality and safety is another important priority. By ranking sixth in the “Road Infrastructure Quality Index” and among the top 10 in the “Logistics Performance Index,” the NTLS hopes to place Saudi Arabia in a better position.

Along with cutting fuel use in the transportation sector by 25%, the strategy also aims to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities by more than 50%. The ministry also launched a historical exhibition that showcases important records, images, and machinery utilised throughout Saudi Arabia’s transportation industry’s history in tandem with digitisation initiatives.

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Things escalated further after the coronavirus outbreak, with many nations holding China responsible for the pandemic. In addition, the Chinese zero-COVID policy affected businesses, which were forced to be on lockdown for several months. Dissatisfied with the start-stop command economy of the communist regime, many major companies are now looking at alternative manufacturing hubs. India, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Malaysia have emerged as prime contenders in this arena.

Major international players are moving away from China, and feel free to blame the country’s rising cost of labour and living standards. These include Samsung, Nike, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, Blackrock, Kia, Hyundai, LG, Dell, HP, Google, Intel, and AirBnB.

As Apple seeks to diversify their supply chain beyond China, Vietnam and India have emerged as critical players in the tech giant’s strategy. However, while both countries offer unique advantages, apart from facing contrasting challenges.

Vietnam has become an increasingly attractive option for manufacturers seeking to move production out of China due to its low labour costs, proximity to key markets, and favourable business environment. The country has also made significant investments in infrastructure and technology.

The World Bank predicts that the Southeast Asian country’s GDP will increase by about 5.5% in 2023.

Brose, a German car supplier with 11 factories in China, is weighing moving its production to Vietnam, with Thailand being another alternative.

Lego of Denmark announced in December 2022 that it would construct a USD 1 billion (€935 million) factory close to the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City. It has been one of the most significant European investment projects in Vietnam to date.

For Apple, Vietnam offers a range of benefits. The country has a young and skilled workforce, a strategic location near other Asian markets, and a government actively attracting foreign investment. In addition, Vietnam has a relatively stable political environment, which is critical for companies seeking long-term partnerships with suppliers.

Apple has already begun to shift some of its production to Vietnam, with reports suggesting that the company plans to produce up to 75 to 78 million AirPods in the country in 2023.

However, Vietnam still needs infrastructure, logistics, and supply chain management challenges, which could impact the country’s ability to meet Apple’s growing demand. Additionally, Vietnam’s labour force is smaller than China’s, which could make it more difficult for the country to scale up production quickly.

Conversely, India has emerged as a critical player in the tech industry due to its large skilled workforce, favourable business environment, and growing consumer market.

In addition, while the country has traditionally been known for its software development capabilities, it has made significant investments in manufacturing infrastructure in recent years, making it a more attractive investment destination.

For Apple, India offers a large and rapidly growing consumer market, as the Narendra Modi government is now actively attracting foreign investments. In addition, India has a large and skilled workforce, which could help the company scale up production quickly and efficiently.

The tariff costs drive up product prices overall, and the trade war between the US and China has already increased expenses by more than 10% for many Chinese businesses. As a result, companies require durable supply chains, and India may be a different choice in this situation.

India’s yearly average manufacturing wage per worker is lower, and its export mix is comparable to China’s. Additionally, the nation has more than 42 trade agreements (including preferential accords) with different countries. Additionally, India has a sizable pool of skilled workers, similar to China, making it inexpensive to source labour there. Additionally, India has one of the world’s most significant populations of English speakers, compared to China, where businesses must use interpreters to communicate.

For India to be a lucrative market, state and national governments are loosening restrictions on foreign direct investment and decreasing corporate taxes. As a result, over 100 international companies are now considering moving their headquarters to the Asian powerhouse. Cisco, Adobe, Apple, and FedEx are just a few of these businesses. Aramco and Facebook invested USD 5.7 billion and USD 15 billion in Reliance Jio and Reliance Industries Limited. Additionally, Apple is establishing a facility in India to produce more than 3.2 million iPhones for export to other nations.

The government has implemented investor-friendly laws and permitted up to 100% FDI in several sectors to encourage investment inflows. Furthermore, India is considered one of the most valuable allies in South-East Asia by the US.

However, India still faces significant infrastructure, logistics, and supply chain management challenges. The country’s transportation infrastructure needs to be developed. In addition, India has a complex regulatory environment, which could make it more difficult for companies to establish and maintain long-term partnerships with suppliers.

As Apple expands its production capabilities in Vietnam and India, it must prioritize ethical and sustainable business practices, along with upholding the highest labour and environmental protection standards. By doing so, Apple can mitigate the risks associated with geopolitical tensions and trade disputes and help promote responsible and sustainable business practices in the tech industry.

The post IF Insights: Decoding Apple’s India & Vietnam push appeared first on International Finance.

The study used six tech metrics during its survey across the region. These are Skills, Digital Adoptions, Infrastructure, Finance and Investment, Research and Development, and Trade.

The report, which aims to provide digital growth and transformation-related guidance to both public and private sectors in the United Kingdom, has put Scotland in the sixth position out of 12, followed by ranks such as third in Digital Adoption, second in trade, and sixth in the area of skills.

The report, however, doesn’t put out a rosy picture for the country’s tech sector as regions such as Highlands, Islands and Southern Scotland were ranked low across all the above-mentioned six categories.

Decoding the report, it was found that while Southern Scotland was struggling in finance and investment, along with Research and Development, it came in the last rank for both categories.

Highlands and Islands finished last when it comes to providing tech-related infrastructure across the rural regions. Scotland’s Eastern and West Central regions, however, scored better on this front.

This was starkly contrasted by the relatively high scores of the Eastern and West Central regions’ infrastructure ratings, the latter coming in 6th place. The same Eastern region, along with its North Eastern counterpart, also fared better in Skills, Digital Adoption, and Trade.

Noting a stark urban vs rural tech divide across the United Kingdom, the report also has suggested things like overall expansion of digital infrastructure and continued roll-out of Project Gigabit, with more and more focus on the rural areas to improve the overall data access ratio and boost the digital ecosystem there.

Scotland’s government has already taken note of this divide and has now announced plans to provide 900,000 homes in the North Lanarkshire region with full-fiber broadband. Regions such as Shetland, Orkney and Faroe Islands got severely affected due to a damaged underwater table and subsequent drop in mobile phone signal.

The post Scotland faces a growing rural vs urban tech divide appeared first on International Finance.

“With unprecedented investment levels in aviation and other transport, infrastructure and projects across the globe, strengthening our asset finance practice makes good business sense for us and our clients,” said Jason Ricketts, Global Head of Finance, Real Estate and Projects.

“A key strength they will bring is aviation finance where they are amongst the leading practitioners in the market. They will complement our tier one asset finance practice in Australia, making the firm’s offering in this sector a truly global practice and mirroring the global market.”

The team appointment represents the firm’s ongoing investment in finance, by strategically growing its breadth of sector and product expertise.

In 2016, the firm recruited US debt partner Gabrielle Wong in London and LatAm partner Ed Dougherty to its New York office, with finance partner Dmitry Gubarev joining the firm in Moscow in 2017.  More recently, the firm announced the promotion of finance lawyers Joy Amis (London) and NikkiSmythe (Sydney) to the partnership (effective 1 May 2018).

The post Herbert Smith Freehills invests in asset finance in London and Singapore appeared first on International Finance.

February 16, 2017: Low-income countries are often advised to prioritise investment in their trade infrastructure to better connect to international markets, and garner the benefits of a more open trade regime. The World Bank’s Trade Facilitation Support Program and the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s Trade Facilitation Agreement, for example, promote investment in trade infrastructure to boost development prospects by improving competitiveness and lowering trade costs.

In a recent ADB Institute working paper, I posed the question of whether too much emphasis may have been placed in recent years on international trade infrastructure, such as ports, customs, and international logistics that reduce international trade costs to the detriment of domestic infrastructure — internal roads and bridges that may reduce domestic trade costs.

Much of the empirical research shows that investment in trade infrastructure has a strong and positive impact on trade flows, and there is also a consensus that trade is an engine for economic growth. So, investment in trade infrastructure seems like a step in the right direction.

However, as anyone who has experienced rush hour traffic in an Asian megacity recently would know, the main infrastructure development challenges facing developing countries are not necessarily found at the border. Investment in domestic infrastructure is often lagging investment in trade infrastructure. This mismatch can hurt a country’s development prospects by undermining its potential to develop domestic as well as international trade.

Building on a location model developed by Martin and Rogers and using a new dataset on trade costs made available by Arvis et al., I demonstrate that in countries where domestic physical infrastructure is worse than the trade infrastructure, the additional dollar should be invested in domestic infrastructure before further investments are made in international infrastructure.

More specifically, in countries with relatively poor domestic infrastructure, I found that a 1% increase in the ratio of domestic to international trade costs — which can be achieved by curbing international trade costs by 1% — leads to 0.44% reduction in GDP per capita. In countries with relatively good domestic infrastructure, the same investment in international trade costs leads to a 0.33% increase in GDP per capita.

Benefits from open trade are not equal for all

Openness to international trade has, on average, had a positive impact on economic growth. But not all countries have benefited to the same degree. While investments in international trade facilitation no doubt lead to more trade, they can also result in a reallocation of investors away from countries with relatively poor domestic infrastructure.

The logic is straightforward. Firms deciding where to locate their production will choose countries with better domestic infrastructure, as it will be cheaper to produce goods and services there. Improved international trade infrastructure magnifies the opportunities for industrial relocation of firms to countries with decent domestic infrastructure.

This suggests that international mechanisms such as the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement should make allowances for low-income countries to first develop their domestic infrastructure, so they can maximise the benefits to be had from more open trade.

Of course, there are many unanswered questions. The development impact of investment in national infrastructure as opposed to international trade infrastructure is unlikely to be linear, given that there’s more to development than just economic growth.

Further work should explore this question, as well as the impact of a range of possible trade-offs on investments in infrastructure. These include quality versus quantity, maintenance versus new infrastructure, financing with user fees versus subsidies, or universal services versus cost efficiency. The answers to these questions are likely to depend on the country, its development objectives, and the type of investment.

Marcelo Olarreaga is Professor of Economics, University of Geneva

This piece was first published as an ADB blog

The post Why poor countries should invest first in national trade infrastructure appeared first on International Finance.

But the world’s second largest economy faced increased uncertainties from a cooling housing market and the government’s bid to push through painful structural reforms, which could help deal with the root cause of rising debt and housing problems but weigh on near-term growth.

The economy expanded 6.7 per cent in 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics said on January 20, roughly in the middle of the government’s 6.5-7 per cent growth target but the slowest pace in 26 years.

The Chinese economy emerged out of deflation in 2016 thanks to public sector infrastructure investment and the housing market. The key challenge for policy makers in 2017 is to revive private business investment, which remains depressed. Private sector business investment is the key, as the private sector accounts for over 70% of output and over 80% of urban employment.

Housing helped prop up growth again in the fourth quarter, with property investment rising by 11.1 percent in December from 5.7 percent in November, even as house prices showed signs of further cooling in some major cities.

Analysts at HSBC believe that the housing market is set for a slowdown in 2017 as policies continue to tighten in premium markets such as Shanghai.

Consumer spending was also strong, with retail sales in December rising at their fastest pace in a year on stronger sales of cars and cosmetic products.

The economy could come under strain as Donald Trump takes office in the US and potentially implement protectionist policies. In the run-up to the inauguration of the next US president, China’s commerce ministry announced that it would like to build ties with the new administration.

The post China Q4 performance better than expectations appeared first on International Finance.

IFM Correspondent

November 1, 2016: Many countries are racing to invest in Indonesia, South East Asia’s biggest economy. Last week, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the economy will probably expand 5 percent this year, making Indonesia an attractive investment destination.

According to reports from the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board, foreign direct investment (FDI) was mainly realised from Singapore, Japan, China and Hong Kong.

Investment from China stood at $1.6 billion in the January to September period, up from about $600 million for the whole of 2015. This is the largest investment by Chinese investors in Indonesian history.

China is now the third largest investor in Indonesia. It became the nation’s biggest trading partner five years ago. The increase in investment from China is a win-win situation for Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo as he pushes ahead with an ambitious program to build roads, ports and railways.

FDI in Indonesia rose 7.8 percent year-on-year to $7.4 billion in the third quarter of 2016. It is the highest value on record as investment grew the most in metal and electronic, mining, and property sector.

Singapore remains the top investor in Indonesia, with $7.1 billion in the first nine months of the year, compared to $5.9 billion in 2015. FDI from the US slumped to about $400 million from $2.4 billion in 2013.

President Widodo has made attracting foreign investment a priority through massive deregulation and tax holiday schemes. “The rules hampered national capacity and slowed our speed to win competition,” he said.

Officials announced that they would open 35 business sectors to 100% foreign ownership, including toll roads, film production and distribution, tourism-related ventures such as restaurants, and non-toxic waste management. Dozens of other units in sectors such as health care and telecommunications will see an increase in allowable foreign stakes.

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