Multilateral Development Banks

The overlapping mandates of existing multilateral development banks (MDBs) and the emergence of new development finance institutions raise the question: Is the current development finance system effectively working together to target scarce global aid resources towards areas of greatest impact? Nations face shared problems–such as climate change, recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and the threat of future pandemics, and unregulated cross-border movements of people–that can only be addressed through international cooperation. Economic prosperity has led to an increasing number of middle-income countries, bringing with it a need to examine the role of development finance institutions in relatively wealthier economies. Rising debt levels in vulnerable countries is also a growing concern in the development community, leading to a greater need for coordination on norms and standards among development lenders. 

With aid representing a declining share of development finance, CGD is asking, what institutional changes are needed within the multilateral development to reflect new realities and rise to the challenge of a resilient and sustainable recovery that resets the world on a path to achieving the SDGs? How should bilateral donors be most effective in the more complex development finance system? And how can those changes be made most effectively?