Private sector to play bigger role in infrastructure financing

BEIJING - The private sector will play an increasingly important role in the infrastructure financing market over the next few years, according to a report issued Tuesday by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The report shows infrastructure financing trends in eight countries including China, India and Russia. It emphasizes that cross-border infrastructure including links that promote trade, market integration and the distribution of green energy are necessary during times of market instability and declining economic growth.

"There continues to be significant infrastructure investment opportunities across Asia, despite current market uncertainty and short-term challenges," the report said.

Local banks in China have developed sufficiently and now dominate the country's infrastructure financing, which helpfully insulates it from currency issues and provides reasonable long-term cost of infrastructure financing rates.

"Multilateral development banks like the AIIB are playing an important role to encourage more private sector investment by partnering with them on high-quality projects that will drive economic and social benefits for local communities," AIIB President Jin Liqun said. "The bank remains committed to developing solutions that will make investing in China more attractive to the private sector."