The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank : A Complement or a Substitute for The Asian Development Bank?

Starting with a brief description of the motivations for establishing AIIB, the chapter then outlines the institutional structure of the AIIB, including its membership, capital, governance, and operational procedures and practices. Next, it compares the AIIB and other existing multilateral development banks (MDBs), offering a rich context for understanding the major institutional features of this organization. Finally, after outlining the progress achieved so far by AIIB, the chapter poses the question of whether AIIB is a complement or a substitute for ADB and other MDBs. It resoundingly rejects the substitution hypothesis and argues that some minor institutional changes in the current international development finance architecture can help ease bottlenecks that stand in the way of optimizing the supply of foreign assistance and enhancing economic development