The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is looking forward to cooperating with the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said an IMF official on Tuesday.
Chikahisa Sumi, assistant director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the IMF, made the remarks at a forum attended by IMF officials and members of U.S. think tanks in Washington, D.C.
“Infrastructure investment need is huge, is simply huge. And then infrastructure investment is very productive investment. And then, it has the potential of crowding in private-sector investment. So, developing countries usually lack that funding mechanism for that needed infrastructure investment,” Sumi said.
“We are looking forward to the collaboration with AIIB. We also welcome any help to finance this vast, vast need to upgrade and solve the infrastructure bottleneck, which is constraining that growth on the supply-side at the moment,” he said.
Sumi is one of the authors of the book “The Future of Asian Finance”, which was released by the IMF in August of 2015.
The inaugurating ceremony of the AIIB will be held in Beijing on January 16.
The AIIB was formally established in Beijing on December 25, 2015. Headquartered in Beijing, it has 57 members. (CCTV/Reuters)
