The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, on Tuesday issued a new batch of five-year bonds globally to raise funds for private sector development lending.

"IFC's funding operations are at the core of our business. They enable us to meet the financing needs of private sector companies in emerging markets, and provide IFC with sufficient liquidity to fulfill our counter-cyclical role in a fragile global economy," said Hua Jingdong, IFC's Vice President.

Tuesday's issuance of the bonds, which are worth 3.5 billion U. S. dollars, IFC's largest ever, served as part of the company's regular financing program intended to lend support to the development of the private sector.

"IFC's priority is to support a vibrant, sustainable private sector that contributes to eradicating extreme poverty and pursuing shared prosperity in emerging markets and globally," Hua said in a statement.

In line with IFC's practice, the proceeds of this issue will be swapped into floating-rate U.S. dollar funds that will be available for IFC investments in emerging markets. IFC has issued dollar-denominated global bonds each year since 2000. All IFC bond issuances are rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's and Moody's, according to the statement.

The Washington-based IFC is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in developing countries, and its main activities are to help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investments, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. Endi

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