IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the government of Korea have signed a partnership agreement to ramp up IFC’s advisory services, especially in key areas of infrastructure, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and information and communication technologies (ICT).
The agreement, known as the Korea-IFC Partnership Program (KIPP), will see an initial $9 million provided to support advisory work on projects that promote sustainable development in emerging markets. At least fifty percent of the funds will go to work in areas such power, transportation, water, waste, utilities, sub-national finance, extractives, ICT, digital services, and PPPs, as part of IFC’s focus on creating markets and working in riskier markets. The rest of the funding will focus on support for investment projects, through feasibility studies and policy reform.
“Korea has been a strong supporter of the World Bank Group’s work on accelerating sustainable development in emerging markets, “said Director General Taesik Yoon from the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance, at the signing of the agreement in Washington DC during the 2018 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund. “This new partnership with IFC will allow us to make water, power, digital and other critical services more accessible to people in need,” he said.
Helping develop these sectors is critical — more than one billion people live without power, nearly 2.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation, some 700 million lack access to clean drinking water, and four billion lack Internet access. It’s estimated meeting infrastructure needs in developing countries requires over $2 trillion of investment per year over the next 15 years.
“Growth in many developing countries is at serious risk of stagnation due to infrastructure and ICT shortcomings. With demand for infrastructure and access to ICT rising rapidly every year, Korean support for upstream work will help bring private sector solutions and know-how into these important sectors,” said Karin Finkelston, Vice President of Partnerships, Communications & Outreach at IFC.
Since 1985, IFC has provided over $10 billion in financing, including $6.7 billion mobilized from other investment partners to nearly 100 Korean projects around the world. Nearly half of that financing – $4.3 billion in all- was delivered after IFC re-established its presence in Korea in 2013 to help Korean entities expand in developing countries.
Original source: IFC
Published on 2 May 2018
