owned Public Investment Fund has invested $100 million in a subsidiary owned by the International Finance Corp., the private-sector arm of the World Bank, which will invest in Africa and Latin America, an executive at the corporation said Wednesday. Rashad Kaldany, IFC's vice president for Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa, said the PIF had put the money in the African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC), which was launched in April and has investment commitments totaling $950 million as of June 30. ALAC had invested $66 million in its first three transactions, according to the IFC. Other investors in the ALAC fund include the Dutch pension fund manager PGGM, the Korea Investment Corporation, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan and the United Nations' Joint Staff Pension Fund. The IFC invested $2.2 billion in Africa last year and it plans to increase its investment in its 2011 fiscal year, chief executive officer Lars Thunell said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Marrakesh, Morocco on Oct. 27. “The IFC's Doing Business Index showed that the regulatory environment for small businesses in the Arab world is improving, especially in countries like Saudi Arabia, but financing is still a major challenge for them,” Thunell said. The IFC is focusing on helping local banks develop new products for these businesses because they are being overlooked by many lenders in the region, he added. The Washington-based IFC is also working with the Kuwait based Arab Development Fund for Economic and Social Development to help the regional body with a new $2 billion fund designed to finance small-and medium-sized Arab businesses, Thunell said.
