Development Finance
Capital categories and what each is suited to
Different capital suits different risk. This page explains where each category fits — it does not represent that any of it is available to a given project.
Suitability is not availability. A category may fit a project perfectly and still be unobtainable, because the provider’s own criteria, country limits or pipeline constrain it. NBP does not represent that any capital is committed, offered or reserved for any initiative on this platform.
Twelve categories
Public capital
Budget allocation funded from public revenue or sovereign borrowing.
Suited to
Assets with no user revenue, and enabling works that make other investment viable.
Development finance
Long-tenor lending from development finance institutions, often with technical assistance attached.
Suited to
Projects with development impact that commercial lenders find too long-dated.
Commercial debt
Bank lending priced to risk, typically at shorter tenor.
Suited to
Projects with predictable cash flow and a completed feasibility case.
Project finance
Limited-recourse lending secured on the project’s own cash flows.
Suited to
Ring-fenced assets with contracted revenue, such as generation under an offtake agreement.
Infrastructure equity
Equity funds seeking long-duration, inflation-linked returns.
Suited to
Operating or near-operating assets with an established revenue base.
Institutional investment
Pension and insurance capital seeking duration matching.
Suited to
Low-volatility operating assets, generally post-construction.
Climate finance
Capital with a mandated climate mitigation or adaptation objective.
Suited to
Projects with measurable and verifiable climate outcomes.
Green bonds
Debt issued against a defined green use-of-proceeds framework.
Suited to
Issuers able to report against the framework for the life of the bond.
Blended finance
Concessional capital used to make a commercially marginal project bankable.
Suited to
Projects with strong development returns and commercial returns that fall just short.
Concessional finance
Below-market lending from bilateral or multilateral sources.
Suited to
Priority public projects where affordability, not viability, is the constraint.
Export credit
Support tied to procurement from the providing country.
Suited to
Projects with substantial imported equipment content.
Impact investment
Capital seeking measurable social or environmental return alongside financial return.
Suited to
Projects able to measure and report outcomes credibly.