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Overseas Development Institute
Recent Posts
Multilateral development bank reform in a climate-changed world: A panel discussion with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa
June 20, 2023 EST 6:00pm GMT +01The Covid-19 pandemic was a stark reminder that global challenges need globally coordinated solutions. Meanwhile, pressure to contain the increase in global temperatures has escalated. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are – in principle – well-placed to address global or regional challenges. They are major contributors to the international climate finance commitment, and have taken a number of steps to coordinate national development and international climate goals. But MDBs need to evolve to deal with the challenges of the 21st century – challenges that are even more demanding and complex than the ones these [...]
Open letter to new World Bank President Ajay Banga: be the catalyst for reform the World Bank so urgently needs
May 3, 2023Dear President Banga, Congratulations on your appointment as the 14th President of the World Bank Group. The Covid-19 pandemic, soaring inflation, geopolitical instability and the ever-looming spectre of climate emergency have all come to define this age of ‘poly-crisis’ in which we live. That these global challenges are both real and urgent is without question. But in the midst of such existential angst, there is still cause for optimism. The World Bank Group – which you will shortly lead – possesses the global standing, not to mention the institutional and [...]
Symposium and evening event: Multilateral development banks in the 21st century
May 18, 2023 BST, 8:00am EDTMultilateral development banks (MDBs) play a unique role among development financiers, with their convening power, cross-country knowledge and expertise, and with finance at better terms than what capital markets can offer, leveraging on their balance sheets. Nevertheless, there is a growing belief – particularly among borrowing countries – that the World Bank and major regional MDBs are too inflexible, bureaucratic and dominated by the political interests of wealthy non-borrowing shareholder countries. MDBs operate across multiple territories, meaning they should – in theory – be well placed to deal with global [...]
Multilateral Development Banks in the 21st Century: what reforms for mandates, governance and financing?
May 18, 2023 BST, 1:30 pm EDTHosted by Department of International Development, the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and ODI Multilateral development banks (MDBs) play a unique role among development financiers, with their convening power, cross-country knowledge and expertise, and with finance at better terms than what capital markets can offer, leveraging on their balance sheets. Nevertheless, there is a growing belief – particularly among borrowing countries – that the World Bank and major regional MDBs are too inflexible, bureaucratic and dominated by the political interests of wealthy non-borrowing shareholder countries. MDBs operate [...]