Reaching the objective of universal access to modern energy services will require large investments in infrastructure in developing countries. An important part of funding will be provided in the form of development finance and its effectiveness in producing positive impacts is crucial for this...

The paper discusses the question of whether financial participation of multilateral development banks does prompt private investors to inject more risky equity capital in emerging market banks. Using a theoretical model, it is stipulated that the presence of an official lender in a project gives...

By the mid-1970s, in virtually all of Africa, strategies of modernization and technology transfer had clearly failed to initiate self-sustained processes of development. Government intervention and centralized planning had spurred economic disaster, rather than growth. In the world of finance,...

Two thirds of the Fund?s current projects have a rural finance component; about 21% of the Fund?s resources are dedicated to rural finance.2 Most of IFAD?s target group are small producers engaged in agric ultural and non-agricultural activities in areas of widely varying potential. Direct...

The paper examines the applicability of GDP-linked bonds for the financing of developing countries and emerging markets. GDP-linked bonds are bonds of which the coupon and/or redemption payments are tied to the GDP of the issuing country. The study encompasses a detailed empirical analysis of...

As is now well documented, aid is given for both political as well as economic reasons. The conventional wisdom is that politically-motivated aid is less effective in promoting developmental objectives. We examine the ex-post performance ratings of World Bank projects and generally find that...

To translate Vision 2030 into reality, the government prepares National Development Plans (NDPs), which outline the programmes and projects that the country intends to pursue over successive five-year periods. The current NDP, the fourth in the series, has adopted three over-arching goals:...

Using data from a quick survey of various rural (RFIs) and microfinance institutions (MFIs) in East Asia, the paper tries to find out how those institutions and their clientele have been affected by the global financial crisis, how they have coped with the ongoing crisis, and what they plan to...