• Development banks shared sustainable infrastructure financing strategies, capacities and challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Regional Group on Sustainable Infrastructure.

October 10, 2024- This past September 24, 2024, the Regional Group on Sustainable Infrastructure, boosted by the IDB and ALIDE, held its 6^th Annual Meeting, where key strategies were discussed for the financing of sustainable infrastructure and the role played by public banks in Public-Private Partnerships.

In the course of this virtual event, the Regional Group on Sustainable Infrastructure addressed the challenges and opportunities to be found in this sector, which is essential for the region and for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

«The gaps in infrastructure investment are significant and reduction of this deficit will require the commitment of governments, the public development banking system, international financial institutions, and the private sector,” ALIDE Secretary General, Edgardo Alvarez, stressed, declaring that collaboration among these actors is of key importance for achieving more substantial results in terms of development.

The coordinator of the IDB-ALIDE Regional Group on Sustainable Infrastructure, Juan Martinez, for his part, explained that the public banking system is the second most important source of financing for the region’s infrastructure by means of project finance mechanisms, essentially to support long-term projects in local currency.

«In order to reach our goals, we must invest at least 3% of LAC’s GDP,” Martinez pointed out, adding that «the public banking system has a major role to play in mobilizing private capital» for infrastructure projects in key areas like transportation, energy, water and digital connectivity.

Exchange of experiences

The panelists presented experiences in financing and shared methodologies for gauging the impact it has on the SDGs, like those of the Infrastructure Bank of Indonesia (PT SMI) and Colombia’s FDN.

The Task Force on Green Hydrogen (Task Force H2V) was introduced as an entity for promoting this new industry in the region, which has shown itself to offer a strong potential in Chile, together with the preliminary findings from the IDB survey on infrastructure finance among development banks in Latin America and the Caribbean.

What is the Regional Group on Sustainable Infrastructure?

It is a joint initiative of the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which aims to support the institution-building efforts of Public Development Banks (PDBs) in structuring and financing sustainable infrastructure in response to the region’s need for infrastructure finance.  It also seeks to take advantage of the potential of National Development Banks (NDBs) for attracting private funds for public-private partnerships that could promote new investments in infrastructure.

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