The World Bank launched a new effort today to link investors with infrastructure projects in capital-starved developing countries.
The Washington-based development lender estimates that developing countries need to double their combined 1 trillion dollars in annual infrastructure spending through 2020 to maintain current and future growth.
Insurance and pension funds worldwide have an estimated 80 trillion dollars in assets but put less than 1 per cent of their investments directly into infrastructure projects, most of which are in advanced economies.
'We've been hearing loud and clear that the money's out there,' World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said. '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.'