Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF)

INTRODUCTION
Infrastructure plays an important role in ensuring growth, competitiveness, job
creation, poverty alleviation and ultimately in sustainability, both in decisions that
limit emissions, that strengthen bouncing back and that address local
environmental concerns.
The Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) is an open platform which works globally and
facilitates the preparation and structuring of complex infrastructure public private
partnerships (PPPs) .Some important highlights regarding GIFs are as follows It enables mobilization of private sector and institutional investor capital.
It basically coordinates and integrates the efforts of Multilateral Development
Banks (MDBs), private sector investors and financiers, and governments in
infrastructure investment in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies
(EMDEs).
It is collaboration among the major multilateral development banks where the
governments of Australia, Canada, China, Japan and Singapore have come
together in the partnership and work together to achieve the goals of GIF.
It works on the design, preparation and structuring of viable and sustainable
infrastructure projects. They will be designed to maximize the likelihood of
financing from long-term private sources such as institutional investors.
The GIFs private sector Advisory Partners represent some US$12 trillion in
assets and include pension funds, insurance companies, fund managers,
reinsurers and sovereign wealth funds, as well as commercial banks.
The World Bank declared GIF open for business for governments from emerging
markets and developing economies on July 13, 2015.It was announced in the Third
International Conference on Financing for Development.Along with the World Bank
Group, Canada is co-chair of the GIFs Governing Council.

PRINCIPLES OF GIF
The GIF works on the following principles Providing public goods: GIF enables investment in core infrastructure,
particularly those infrastructure projects that are climate smart or tradeenabling.
Mobilizing the private sector: Concentrating on financing and implementation
modalities that draw together the comparative advantages of the public and
private sectors to expand investment and improve infrastructure services.

 Achieving value for money: Selecting viable projects that are expected to
achieve value for money for recipient country government(s) and service
users; then, through sound project appraisal, design, structuring and
procurement, helping ensure that value for money is achieved in practice.
Promoting sustainability and inclusiveness: Ensuring that projects adhere to
best practice standards for social and environmental responsibility.
Collaborating for best results: Mobilizing partners technical and financial
resources in an innovative and flexible way to achieve greater leverage and
address the complex infrastructure financing challenges that are beyond the
resources of any individual partner.
Augmenting partners capacity: It complements individual partner efforts by
supplementing existing resources.
ADVANTAGE
The main advantags of GIF are as follows It contributes to the stock of high quality and well-structured infrastructure
projects, hence helps to develop EMDE infrastructure as an asset class
attractive to the full range of private investors seeking diversification into
long-term assets in faster growing economies. Until now, these investors had
limited infrastructure investment opportunities that met their risk tolerance
and investment profiles.
It works on a collaborative and collective basis on complex projects, it helps
single institution as they could not have achieved it alone. The intervention of
GIF starts with upstream support on market structure and project
identification and appraisal, continues through transaction preparation, and
integrates financial structuring and credit enhancement.

CONCLUSION
As far as the functioning of GIF is concerned, it invites emerging market and
developing country governments to come forward with projects and investment
programs that may need support through the project preparation and transaction
process. It include infrastructure investments in basic services such as power,
transport, water and sanitation that have the potential to leverage private finance
and that come with strong government commitment.