Developing Asian countries need to invest more than 5% of their gross domestic product over the next decade to be able to meet the infrastructure needs of their fast-growing economies, according to Infrastructure Financing in Asia, a new book edited by ADB Vice-President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Mr. Bambang Susantono.

Many, if not most, of the countries in the Asia and Pacific region are currently investing less than the proposed 5% of GDP for infrastructure development. At this rate, financing infrastructure to maintain and sustain economic growth and development will be a tough challenge.

To address this challenge, the book offers a variety of policy approaches, such as wide-ranging public finance and institutional reforms to create a stronger enabling environment for public-private partnerships. It provides outside-the-box solutions in the form of tax financing, mass transit investments, and smart energy grid investments to help meet the infrastructure financing gap.

The book also explores alternative financing methods to unlock long-term funding from institutional investors and offers mechanisms to deepen the region’s bond markets.