A CGD blog. The likelihood of capital increase for the World Bank’s non-concessional lending arm, the IBRD, appears to be climbing. At least an odd European government appears to be doing some preparatory work for it. But any negotiations around a capital increase may be complex. Large shareholders and borrowe….

A CGD blog. I utterly didn’t foresee the revolution in mobile internet services, and the incredibly innovative ways that it would be used. Back in 2002, 11 percent of the world’s population were internet users. Today, it is 63 percent-the considerable majority using connections over cheap mobile phones. Even in…

A CGD blog. As new president Ajay Banga settles in to his position atop of the World Bank, his thoughts will be on institutional reform. Not least, the mandate he has been given to “evolve” the Bank to take on the mission of climate change. How do you redeploy 19,000 staff members in a new…

A CGD blog. A number of aid advocates have started (re)using the fear of migration flows to drum up support for increased, or at least sustained, development and climate finance. Their argument is that such finance will reduce migration flows that we should support and protect prosperous and sustainable econom…

A CGD blog. I have already suggested some of what I’d like to see in UK party political manifestos on the topic of global development, and while some of that is outside the remit of a paper that apparently won’t discuss overall funding levels or institutional arrangements, there’s still a lot left. It would be…

A CGD blog. The post-conference statement from the recently concluded Paris Summit for A New Global Financing Pact undercuts the calculations at the core of the idea we could take billions of multilateral finance and ODA to mobilize trillions of private investment for climate and development. If the Paris Summi…

A CGD blog. An interesting paper (and podcast) by Francis Fukuyama and Michael Bennon look at China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and recent debt distress in BRI project countries, building on work by Scott Morris and co-authors that examined 100 Chinese debt contracts with foreign governments. BRI has invol…

A CGD blog. Subsequent statements and declarations made it fairly clear that all $100 billion was meant to be new and additional -presumably ‘new and additional’ to existing financial transfers to developing countries. But there is no consensus definition of “new and additional climate finance.” That raises th….

A CGD blog. In the fight for more capital for climate at the World Bank Group, we should focus on the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development alone.

A CGD blog. “Embrace mediocrity and accept the unoriginal” may not sound like a great rallying cry for World Bank staff, but if we really want the institution to ramp up lending for renewable power and low-carbon transport, it might be the call we need.