WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The World Bank's private-sector lender expects to invest $16 billion this fiscal year in emerging countries to spur economic growth amid a tepid global recovery that has pushed millions of people into poverty, its chief executive officer said on Saturday.

"I think we would do $16 billion including financing mobilized from other parties," Lars Thunell, chief executive officer and executive vice president of the International Finance Corp (IFC) said on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund's spring meetings.

This is an increase of $1.5 billion from 2009 after an additional 64 million people worldwide fell below the poverty line due to the global economic crisis.

Thunell said consumer goods sectors in emerging countries with large and young populations is where he sees most of the investment going.

"It is not only in traditional sectors like extracting (commodities) or infrastructure, but on local consumption. You see it in China and Africa. What you call the base of the pyramid is a major business opportunity," Thunell told Reuters.

He pointed to sites in western China as one area where this is happening.

Thunell also said interest in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda, marred by war, has risen as the political risk profile of these countries improve.

"You have much less conflicts and wars in Africa. You have a new generation of leaders such as the president of Rwanda that understand that the private sector is very important," Thunell said.

Earlier this month the IFC partnered with sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from Azerbaijan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and South Korea in an $800 million fund to invest in companies in Africa and elsewhere as part of the corporation's strategy to tap the growing investment opportunities in frontier markets.