Developing countries are susceptible to many kinds of risks—from liquidity shocks and terms of trade volatility to natural disasters. The economic crisis is a reminder that dealing with external risks is a formidable challenge to economic development. The crisis, largely a product of the rich world, is taking a heavy toll on developing nations, which are looking again to multilateral institutions for support. As the demand for traditional loans grows once again, Guillermo Perry’s book Beyond Lending is a timely reminder that multilateral development banks should move beyond lending to provide innovative risk-management tools for developing countries to manage volatility in pursuit of sustained growth.
On Thursday, May 21, 2009, Center for Global Development hosted the book launch of Beyond Lending: How Multilateral Banks Can Help Developing Countries Manage Volatility featuring author Guillermo Perry Associate Researcher, Fedesarrollo, and Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development.
Nancy Lee, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Western Hemisphere, U.S. Treasury Department;Santiago Levy, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge, Inter-American Development Bank; and Arvind Subramanian Joint Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development and Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics served as discussants. Nancy Birdsall President, Center for Global Development, moderated the discussion.
