what is a private finance initiative pfi 
a private finance initiative pfi is a way of financing public sector projects through the private sector pfis alleviate the government and taxpayers of the immediate burden of coming up with the capital for these projects under a private finance initiative a private company handles the up front costs instead of the government in return the government authority makes payments to the private company over the long term the term private finance initiative is used primarily in the united kingdom and australia in the united states pfis are typically called public private partnerships ppps 1