The Missing Middle of the Public Counterparty – The Signature Behind the Guarantee

Why does the gap persist? Because no one owns the counterparty. Line ministries negotiate and sign, finance ministries are consulted late if at all, utilities are expected to pay, and regulators set prices without seeing the balance sheet. Each treats another as the real counterparty. The costs of a weak promise appear years later, under a different government, while advisers, sponsors and officials are rewarded at financial close. A contingent liability that appears nowhere on the budget is, politically, free.