Axa, Swiss Re, Amundi Asset Management and BlackRock Alternative Investors are among the partners in the GIF along with commercial banks and governments.
At the launch of the GIF on 9 October in Washington DC, World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim said the presence of a broad range of institutional investors at the signing to launch the GIF sent a powerful message, when the most recent data showed that private infrastructure investment in emerging markets and developing economies dropped from $186bn in 2012 to $150bn last year.
"We have several trillions of dollars in assets represented today looking for long-term, sustainable and stable investments," said Kim. "In leveraging those resources, our partnership offers great promise for tackling the massive infrastructure deficit in developing economies and emerging markets, which is one of the fundamental bottlenecks to reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity."
"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."
Kim said the GIF was being designed to tap into expertise from within and outside the World Bank Group to deliver complex public-private infrastructure projects that no single institution could address on its own.
He said the GIF would begin operations later this year in a pilot phase. The key focus would be on climate-friendly investments as well as ventures to bolster trade.
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People:Jim Yong Kim
