International Finance Corporation

The officials met via a virtual meeting this week to discuss ways to work through the global economic downturn.

The IFC's Thomas Jacobs told banking executives the economic fallout from the pandemic would not spare any nation in the region.

Mr Jacobs said his corporation was working to help financial institutions in the region continue to back businesses, in particular small and medium-sized companies.

He said it was important to keep these institutions operating and for that they needed finance.

The Pacific has some of the most expensive electricity prices in the world with much of its energy coming from diesel.

The IFC and the Australian-based company, Smart Commercial Solar, will launch its project by offering a free energy report to Pacific businesses calculating how much they can save if they switch to solar.

The IFC's spokesperson, Subrata Barman, said it's time for Pacific nations to look at moving away from traditional models of power supply.