Center for Global Development

The Center for Global Development is an independent, nonpartisan think tank based in Washington D.C. and London. CGD works to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world's top decision makers. Over the next two years, CGD will be conducting rigorous research and proposing practical solutions to drive broader mandates, better governance, and modern business models at the multilateral development banks.

Recent Posts

Reforming the World Bank and MDBs to Meet Shared Global Challenges

October 6, 2022

  Independent Think Tank Leaders Issue Call to Action for MDB Reform Last July, the Center for Global Development hosted a meeting with other think tanks to exchange perspectives on the multilateral development bank (MDB) system.   We shared a common diagnosis that MDBs must more aggressively address the global challenges that defy national borders and threaten human life as we know it. By virtue of its global reach, financial firepower, and expertise, the World Bank is especially well positioned to be a major driver of progress on climate, pandemic preparedness [...]

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IMF-World Bank meetings are the last stop before a coming economic storm

October 5, 2022

Lawrence H. Summers, a Post Opinions contributing columnist, is a professor at and past president of Harvard University. He was treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 and an economic adviser to President Barack Obama from 2009 through 2010. Masood Ahmed is president of the Center for Global Development; he has previously served as a senior official at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. When they gather in Washington next week for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group annual meetings, the world’s finance ministers face what has been labeled [...]

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Multilateral Development Banks’ Capital Adequacy Frameworks: Options for Reform?

September 15, 2022 Eastern Time

This event is co-hosted with ODI. In 2021, G20 members created an independent panel to evaluate whether multilateral development bank (MDB) shareholder capital is being used efficiently and to understand whether MDBs can lend more without threatening their long-term financial integrity. This was in response to a growing sense among policymakers that MDBs need reforming if they are to play a more meaningful role in addressing the global crises of today and tomorrow. The panel’s Independent Review of MDBs’ Capital Adequacy Frameworks report was subsequently published in July. It centred [...]

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A Dive into MDB Policy-Based Guarantees: Relevant but in Need of Reform?

July 20, 2022

Policy-based guarantees (PBGs) have long been a multilateral development bank (MDB) instrument in search of a purpose. PBGs—a credit enhancement for sovereign market borrowing—have been around for decades but their uptake has been limited. In most instances, they have proven remarkably effective in helping to reduce governments’ external financing costs and mobilize large volumes of private capital. As we enter a period of heightened global economic volatility, PBGs could become a particularly useful instrument for emerging and frontier markets seeking to maintain access at affordable rates. They could also be [...]

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