Subscribe
The World Bank and other development banks on Thursday backed the G20 plan for a global infrastructure hub to spur growth and create jobs, saying it will help tackle poverty.
The statement has been issued just ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane this weekend.
The group of 20 developed nations had agreed in September to establish the global infrastructure initiative, expected to be based in Sydney.
The financial institutions issued a joint statement, welcoming the emphasis the G20 has placed on infrastructure over the past few years and the advances made this year under the Australian presidency. These institutions include: the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund.
Infrastructure helps improve access to basic services, especially for poor people, links producers to markets and connects countries to the opportunities in the global economy, the statement reads.
The infrastructure initiative is aimed to cut red tapism and narrow the information gap between potential investors and infrastructure projects. The needs are immense: the infrastructure gap in emerging and developing economies is broadly estimated at over US$1 trillion per annum. Meeting these needs will require renewed efforts to mobilise resources from existing as well as new sources of finance, including from institutional investors, the statement further read.