The GIF is a platform for collaboration between public and private partners to help prepare and design PPP deals to make them viable for new sources of long-term private capital.
Following the announcement, GIF will begin operations later this year in a pilot phase to test and prepare new models to deliver complex projects in low and middle income countries.
A host of international organisations have signed up to support the plans, including the Asian Development Bank, the government of Australia, AXA, Blackrock and Citibank. Macquarie Group will act in an advisory role for the facility.
"We have several trillions of dollars in assets represented today looking for long-term, sustainable and stable investments, said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
"The real challenge is not a matter of money but a lack of bankable projects – a sufficient supply of commercially viable and sustainable infrastructure investments".