World Bank starts initiative to help developing countries for infrastructure

The World Bank on Thursday launched an initiative to bridge the private sector with the need of developing countries and emerging markets on infrastructure construction.

"Today I will be launching a new partnership initiative, the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF), which is aimed at mobilizing the private sector to help tackle the massive infrastructure deficit now facing developing countries and emerging markets," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in his opening press briefing at the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings 2014.

According to the data of the World Bank, developing countries and emerging markets need one trillion U.S. dollars a year in extra investment for infrastructure through 2020.

Institutional investors like insurance and pension funds have some 80 trillion in assets but less than 1 percent of pension funds are allocated directly to infrastructure projects and the bulk of that is in advanced countries.

"The real challenge is not a matter of money but a lack of bankable projects, a sufficient supply of commercially viable and sustainable infrastructure investments," said Kim.

The GIF will represent "a unique collaboration among the private sector, especially institutional investors, donor nations, multilateral development banks," said Kim.