Recent Posts
Transparency and World Bank Evolution
January 9, 2023Late last year, the World Bank Group issued a roadmap on its potential evolution in response to shareholder pressure at this year’s Bank-Fund annual meetings. The roadmap document has been widely shared with member governments. As reported by Reuters and Devex on the basis of leaked copies, it proposes reforms to the World Bank Group’s mission and operations along with increased funding and a significant move into subsidizing the provision of global public goods in middle income economies–a major overhaul. The Bank should publish the roadmap immediately. For good reason, [...]
MDBs for a Global Future: Centering Borrowing Country Perspectives
November 30, 2022We live in a world confronted by multiple global crises. Many of these crises—like climate change and global pandemics—defy national borders and will require unprecedented levels of investment to be contained. Global public goods (GPGs) like emissions mitigation or the development of new antibiotics are key to a less crisis prone world, but they have been underinvested in. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) like the World Bank are well positioned to address many of these global challenges by virtue of their size, reach, and scope. The challenge ahead is how to [...]
Latin America and the Caribbean at a Crossroads: What Agenda and Role for the Inter-American Development Bank?
October 24, 2022 Eastern TimeThis event will be broadcast in Spanish and English. COVID-19 and related economic shocks have had important but heterogeneous impact across the Latin American and Caribbean region, which also faces elevated climate risks, increasing rates of poverty, declining life expectancy in some countries, and unprecedented rates of crime and violence. The International Monetary Fund now forecasts average growth of 1.7% in 2023 with high levels of inflation. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) could play a transformational role in supporting its borrowing member countries, partnering with governments to deliver on progress [...]
Boosting MDBs’ Role and Capacity in Development Finance
October 11, 2022 Eastern TimeIn July, the G20 published the report it had commissioned from an independent panel of experts to assess MDB capital adequacy. The report's recommendations, if implemented, would support a major increase in collective MDB lending, likely reaching hundreds of billions of dollars over time. The report spells out how this expansion in lending can be achieved while maintaining strong MDB institutional ratings. This event--co-hosted by the Government of Indonesia, current chair of the G20, and CGD--will feature remarks by Indonesia’s Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and an examination of the report’s [...]