New Infrastructure Bank for Asia

• 31 December 2015
• Local News
• 942 Views

At the end of October, China and 20 other Asian countries met to create an international infrastructure bank similar in structure to institutions like the World Bank.

The new “Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank” (AIIB) will offer financing for infrastructure projects in Asia, and was first proposed in 2013 by Chinese president Xi Jinping.

China has promised to contribute much of the initial US$50bn in the AIIB’s capital and hopes it will allow it to increase its influence in the region by rivaling the IMF and World Bank.

Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines all signed the agreement but Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Indonesia stayed away from the signing ceremony in Beijing.

In March, Lou Jiwei, the Chinese finance minister, said the bank would “mainly focus on infrastructure construction,” whereas the World Bank and Asian Development Bank “put their priorities more on poverty reduction”.