At PIDG we’ve always measured success through how far we can mobilise the private sector where it matters the most.
PIDG is delivering positive impact in places where other investors cannot and will not yet go.
The market knows that when they’re talking to PIDG, when they see a reference to PIDG, it is a reference to the multiple products that are on offer.
We have a clear mandate to deliver infrastructure in some of the most challenging markets.
The places in which we are investing are really the ones with the highest infrastructure access gaps but also the highest climate fragility and the highest biodiversity which is fast depleting.
When we look at an investment, we are trying to think about the mitigation of climate emissions and also building adaptation and resilience, both actually of the investments themselves, the projects that we’re doing, but also to provide adaptation and resilience for the people who are relying on the services from those infrastructure projects.
Over fifty percent of the infrastructure that is going to be put in place globally is going to be in emerging markets and developing economies.
If you look at the populations in these countries, they are younger, they have huge growth potential.
It’s a great opportunity because infrastructure is needed. It’s needed for communities, it’s needed for the economies, it’s needed for people. Infrastructure generates very stable returns for the private sector.
Blended finance is about using small amounts of public money to unlock much larger amounts of private investment for sustainable development.
For every dollar that the government comes in with, which is a dollar from taxpayers we can mobilise….is it three, is it four, is it six dollars of private sector capital. Overseas development assistance, shall only be given to the extent that is needed, such that you can leverage and therefore mobilise private capital.
It can be a great way for investors to diversify their investments in a different asset class.
We have been showing for the past seven years that mobilisation is not just north to south it’s also south to south.
PIDG has been doing that since 2002, proving that blended finance can help attract investment even into the toughest markets.
One of the unique features of PIDG is that we operate across the entire infrastructure lifecycle. From patient capital to equity to guarantees and debt. We are strategic in taking some of the risks that the private sector is not yet prepared to take today but might be ready to take tomorrow; can these projects be done in future without us? And that’s really the essence of private sector mobilisation.
We support businesses to deliver productivity and economic growth, and ultimately that creates more jobs. It also matters who we create jobs for. So we have a deliberate focus on creating employment opportunities for women, this is a metric that we track each year.
Across all the PIDG portfolio, I think the same ambitions run through every transaction, to lift living standards, to improve climate resilience, to empower women and girls, and to protect nature or leave it in a better place than when we found it.
The ability to work with the private sector, knowing full well that the private sector alone cannot do it, governments alone cannot do it, multilateral institutions cannot do it, is for me critical as we address people, planet, wider economy and markets.
