The AIIB, NDB and SRF will invest in developing countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the China-initiated multilateral bank headquartered in Beijing, began operations in January, marking a milestone in the reform of the global economic governance system. China is pushing for a better global economic governance mechanism and the AIIB, the New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and the Silk Road Fund (SRF) have been set up to this end.

All three are international platforms created to promote investment in global infrastructure and are complementary. They don't pose any threat to the existing international rules but instead, aim to improve and reform the existing mechanisms. These new financial institutions conform to China's foreign economic development strategy and enterprises will benefit in terms of more investment opportunities and diverse financing channels.

Cross-border projects

The AIIB, NDB and SRF share the common thread of cross-border infrastructure investment. They will invest in developing countries along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and others faced with infrastructure bottlenecks, helping these countries develop their infrastructure. This will include transportation, communication and electricity so as to promote regional economic integration.

According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian countries?annual infrastructure investment demand over the next decade will be about $730 billion. However, their domestic financial institutions or the private sector have difficulties to meet the need. The international private sector disregards cross-border infrastructure investment because of the long fruition period, poor risk management ability, and a risk breakdown structure complicated by currency hedge risks, policy risks and political risks. Cross-border infrastructure investments, therefore, mainly rely on bilateral or multilateral government assistance.

Cross-border infrastructure construction also faces complex problems in the construction environment, ecology standards and intellectual property protection. Therefore, government attitudes toward cross-border infrastructure investment are more conservative and cautious.

As bilateral and multilateral government assistance in infrastructure decreases, the economic development of developing countries faces significant barriers such as blocked regional economic links. Consequently, countries with complementary advantages miss out on development opportunities.

China is confident of promoting infrastructure development in Asia. One of its strengths is large-scale investment in infrastructure and fixed assets. Also, assisting developing countries in infrastructure construction is a distinctive characteristic of China's long-term foreign assistance policy. The keywords "cross-border infrastructure investments" are clearly reflected in the philosophy of China's multilateral banks and funds, both operational and upcoming ones.

New source of funds

Prior to the trio, the Export-Import Bank of China, China Development Bank, and their subordinate funds were the key financial institutions implementing China's foreign economic, trade and development assistance policies. Both are export-oriented and involved in business worldwide. However, cross-border investment in infrastructure accounts for only a small part of their business operations and loans.

The AIIB, NDB and SRF are similar to existing multilateral international financial and development institutions in terms of mechanism and operation. Their loans will flow into developing countries.

The NDB is similar to the World Bank but varies in scale. The difference is that it aims to focus on infrastructure investment.

The AIIB is a member of the regional development bank network, which includes the ADB, African Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank. Its structure and operations are similar to those of existing regional development banks. But while the other regional development banks offer preferential loans for infrastructure to their member states, none specializes in infrastructure investment. Barring the difference, both the AIIB and NDB are similar to the existing multilateral development banks in terms of institutional and operational modes.

Multilateral development banks provide financial assistance to developing countries generally as loans and grants. Project loans are meant for infrastructure projects as well as social programs such as those related to hygiene, health and education. Policy-oriented lending is蔲or promoting policy reforms in the borrowing countries, and for providing budget support to developing countries. Development banks are increasingly inclined to offer policy-oriented lending, providing an option to the International Monetary Fund.

The SRF, an open government fund for multilateral cooperation, was established with [$10 billion in] China's foreign exchange reserve as startup capital. Its goals are to contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative, especially connectivity, focusing on cross-border infrastructure construction. Being different from development banks, the market-oriented SRF should put more emphasis on getting returns on its investment and be more commercialized in its operations.

A bold move

China's Central Government plans to connect the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative by building infrastructure, adhering to the principles of "by land first before by sea," "railway first and then ports" and "first near, then distant, geographically speaking." Given this, an initial plan is likely to build a high-speed rail network connecting China with South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia, and prioritize railway and highway projects connecting China with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Mongolia, and Tajikistan.

The AIIB and SRF will offer preferential conditions and incentives to investment in infrastructure construction. As soon as the infrastructure along the Belt and Road Initiative is improved and put into operation, the investment focus will shift to cross-border transport and logistics, energy development, agricultural production and processing.

On the whole, it is a bold move to establish a number of multilateral financial institutions to boost infrastructure investment in Asia, as well as related countries and regions. Transnational infrastructure investments carry high risks. Therefore, mechanisms are required to reduce investment uncertainties and provide investment protection, which will encourage private-sector investors and sovereign wealth funds to enter the field.

The new financial institutions also need to encourage and ensure investment from diversified channels into the infrastructure sector and achieve connectivity through regional cooperation. Since they have limited capacity in terms of capital, whether they can achieve the desired results depends on whether they can successfully reduce investment risks and uncertainties and attract diversified capital.

(The author is a professor at the Department of International Relations, Tsinghua University, and Deputy Director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy)