Public-private partnership: nature, features, and development problems in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The paper addresses the approaches of foreign and domestic researchers to the definition of the public-private partnership concept. The origin of the public-private partnership concept is examined, and the state’s role in securing the public infrastructure is emphasized. The key features of the public-private partnership in domestic and international practice are outlined. The paper proves that deviations from the standard model of public-private partnership might be the perspective causes of failures of projects and contracts concluded by the public-private partnership pattern. The examples of projects that do not constitute the classical patterns of the public-private partnership are explained. The negative aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the financial side of public-private partnership agreements are outlined, including the loss of income, breakage of supply chains, growing expenditures, and inability to meet liabilities. The paper argues that governments might implement two groups of measures to overcome the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the public-private partnership projects: those not requiring additional or unprecedented financial expenditures and those requiring substantial expenditures. The condition of public-private partnership agreements implementation in Ukraine in 2018-2020 is analyzed and the following conclusions are made: the trend towards the declining number of implemented public-private partnership agreements and a growing number of non-implemented agreements has been observed since 2018. In 2020, the number of implemented agreements decreased substantially despite the growth of their overall number. Military actions in the East of Ukraine, unstable political situation, the controversy of the domestic situation in the country for foreign investors as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy of Ukraine may be the factors causing this course of events.