Private Finance for Development

Thus far, the “billions to trillions” vision is not coming to fruition. The greatly expanded private capital flows that people hoped for, especially for SDG-related infrastructure and for low-income countries (LICs), have not materialized. Given stagnating aid flows, attempts to accelerate spending have raised public debt, putting macroeconomic stability at risk in many LICs. Many call for more catalytic use of donor resources to mobilize private finance, but others question whether blending public and private monies would just subsidize the private sector, or divert public funds from social and infrastructure investment in LICs and fragile states aimed at reducing poverty. CGD research focuses on building the evidence base for better understanding the challenges and devising innovative solutions in synergizing public and private finance. We are analysing private capital flows to LICs after the global financial crisis; examining the factors limiting the role development finance institutions (DFIs) are playing in mobilizing private finance; exploring the characteristics and sources of finance of infrastructure projects in Africa; assessing the impact of blended finance on poverty; and proposing changes to the development finance architecture to boost DFI risk tolerance, mobilization, and impact.