The Heads of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Developmnet Bank (IDB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the World Bank (WB), along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), offer support to strengthen sustainability of the Australian G20 Infrastructure Initiative. 

A statement was released in which the MDBs welcome the emphasis the G20 has placed on infrastructure over the past few years and the advances made this year under the Australian Presidency. It was indicated that infrastructure is key to tackling poverty and promoting inclusive growth, and the MDBs have played major roles in advancing infratsructure development by providing over US$130 billion of financing for infrastructure annually.

The MDBs emphasized that infrastructure investments need to be sustainable: fiscally, economically, socially and environmentally. The needs for investment are immense: the infrastructure gap in emerging and developing economies is broadly estimated at over US$1 trillion per annum. Meeting these needs will require renewed efforts to mobilize resources from existing as well as new sources of finance, including from institutional investors. MDBs have the knowledge and experience to leverage greater private sector involvement in the infrastructure sector worldwide and are developing new platforms to mobilize private finance on a larger scale.

At the same time, the MDBs are working with countries to create an enabling environment to mobilize investment through regulatory reforms and robust tender processes and legal frameworks for Public Private Partnerships (PPP). They are also strengthening project preparation through specific or dedicated project preparation facilities (PPFs). On the other hand, the IMF is developing a set of concrete guidelines on strengthening public investment management practices across countries at differing levels of development. 

For a more detailed description of the actions that the MDBs and IMF have taken to strengthen sustainability of the G20 Infrastructure Initiative, please see the full text of the statement.