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multilateral development banks

A tipping point for solar energy?

Joaquim Levy's picture
Manik, a solar pump operator for Nusra works near the solar panels in Rohertek, Bangladesh. © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
Manik, a solar pump operator for Nusra works near the solar panels in Rohertek, Bangladesh. © Dominic Chavez/World Bank

​Solar energy is poised to transform low-income economies, many of which are in the world’s sunniest regions. Solar’s growing share of the energy mix is being driven by better storage capacity and attractive generation costs. Large solar parks are now competitive with most alternatives; their average cost is below 5 cents per kilowatt-hour in some developing countries. Smaller-scale solar grids are also getting more competitive, opening new paths to financing this clean energy source. With rapid improvements in energy efficient lighting, refrigeration, water pumps, and other technologies for households, solar may soon be as game-changing as mobile phones have been in the last decade.

Solar’s potential is evident from its quick growth in India, where installed capacity recently topped 20 gigawatts (GW), putting the country closer to its ambitious target of 100 GW from clean energy by 2022 (an amount comparable to total installed capacity in the United Kingdom). Solar offers key advantages: facilities can be built quickly, do not need fuel to be transported to power plants, and can eliminate transmission costs where mini-grids or off-grid units are built to serve local communities. 
 

Que papel devem ter os bancos de desenvolvimento?

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu's picture
Also available in: English | العربية | Español | Français



Em todo o mundo, bancos de desenvolvimento estão avaliando sua atuação e observando onde esses esforços têm mais impacto. O tema foi objeto de uma reunião organizada pelo Banco Mundial e pelo Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES).

Os bancos de desenvolvimento se tornam peças cada vez mais fundamentais à medida que o mundo busca angariar os recursos necessários para atingir os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável. Esses bancos podem ajudar a atrair o setor privado e solidificar as parcerias entre os setores público e privado, principalmente em matéria de financiamento de infraestrutura.

No entanto, o uso abusivo de bancos de desenvolvimento pode gerar riscos fiscais e distorções no mercado de crédito. Para evitar essas armadilhas, os bancos de desenvolvimento precisam de uma missão bem definida e devem operar sem influência política, concentrar-se no combate às grandes falhas de mercado, focar as áreas onde o setor privado não atua, monitorar e avaliar intervenções e realizar os ajustes necessários para garantir o impacto almejado. Também precisam ser transparentes e responsáveis.

A new role for development banks?

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu's picture
Also available in: العربية | Español | Português | Français



Earlier this month, development banks from around the world took stock of where they stand and where they see their efforts having the greatest impact at a meeting organized by the World Bank and Brazil’s development bank, BNDES.

As the world struggles to find funds to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, development banks can be instrumental in narrowing that gap. They can help to crowd-in the private sector and anchor private-public sector partnerships, particularly for infrastructure financing.

However, misusing development banks can lead to fiscal risks and credit market distortions. To avoid these potential pitfalls, development banks need a well-defined mandate, operate without political influence, focus on addressing significant market failures, concentrate on areas where the private sector is not present, monitor and evaluate interventions and adjust as necessary to ensure impact, and, finally, be transparent and accountable.

Two themes characterized the discussion at the meeting: how to leverage private capital and create new markets. To support Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) finance, development banks use partial credit guarantees while letting private lenders originate, fund, and collect on credit. In markets with limited competition, development banks support the creation of an ecosystem of specialized Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) lenders to which they provide a stable funding source. 

Achieving trillions out of billions

Bertrand Badré's picture
Also available in: Français | العربية | Español


The release of the joint statement “From Billions to Trillions: Transforming Development Finance” at the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings is one of the most satisfying moments during my two-year tenure as Managing Director and World Bank Group CFO.

My one regret is that the title should have been Billions for Trillions.

Why?

Timely information to meet enforcement deadlines: How can we meet the standards?

Simon Robertson's picture

I would like to follow up on Paul’s interesting comments on information sharing and the need in particular for timeliness.  He raises a number of issues on when to share information and this is where I would like to come in.  My background relies on information sharing across disciplines, be they units in the Bank or wider afield to other agencies such as Multi Lateral Development Banks (MDB) with their own integrity/investigations function or to law enforcement.  And herein lies the difference between information managed by law enforcement when compared to that of the development community.  In our search for timeliness – often a crucial issue for law enforcement it is not so for the development community, and in some ways this is essential as it allows us to first evaluate the reliability of the source of the information and then question the validity of the information.  One may ask why we should do this, and the simple answer is – we must be able to satisfy ourselves that we have undertaken our own due diligence and are confident that the information we are providing will add value to the enforcement entity with whom we share the information.  For instance we may find that after questioning the source of the data we ascertain that the information is not known directly to the source it is in fact a regurgitation of information relayed to him/her by someone else – and therefore while our source may be good the validity of our information could be questioned.