The EIB joined multilateral development institutions and donor nations, asset management and private equity firms, pension and insurance funds, and commercial banks, to work as partners in a new Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) that has the potential to unlock billions of dollars for infrastructure in the developing world. The GIF was launched at the initiative of the World Bank Group in Washington in the framework of the World Bank Group Annual Meetings.

The President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer, said: "We welcome the proposed collaboration of the Multilateral Development Banks and the private sector and capital market institutions on GIF as it will increase the resources available to prepare major infrastructure projects. It will also strengthen market investment in key infrastructure sectors and countries where such resources are lacking. What we need are viable, bankable and innovative projects which provide added value for investment and modernising the economy.”

Meeting future demands for infrastructure investment in developing and emerging markets would require investment of at least an estimated additional US$1 trillion a year through to 2020. Public funding alone cannot meet these investment needs, and the GIF will help leverage additional private sector investment. The EIB will contribute on the basis of its strong track record of financing economically and financially viable infrastructure projects, and its experience in developing Public-private partnerships and making best use of capital market instruments.

WBG Press Release