Towards Stronger Multilateral Development Banks

INCLUSIVE, SUSTAINABLE and resilient growth’ has emerged as an important theme in recent times.

Policy circles are abuzz with discussions on the pathways to achieve this growth. At a time when we are faced with multiple crises including poverty, lack of progress towards SDGs, food and energy insecurity, debt distress, climate change, poverty and inequality, there is a need to bring about major reforms to tackle each of these challenges. Substantial and impactive reforms require considerable resources and a robust and efficient international development finance architecture. Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) play an important role in this system, providing long-term resources for the world to address emerging challenges and attain growth in a manner that leaves no one behind.

The MDBs have addressed development finance needs of the world since decades. They have helped countries progress towards their development goals by providing financial resources, technical assistance, and policy advice. However, in an evolving geopolitical landscape and a dynamic external context where the nature of challenges keeps changing, the actions required to address them must be altered accordingly. Multilateral institutions must adapt constantly to cater to the needs of the day and age. Adapting their approach and working methods to changing needs is the key for institutions to remain relevant. The issues that the world is faced with now are not just multifaceted, but also transboundary in nature. This has made collective action a prerequisite to addressing them and multilateral institutions can facilitate this action through more effective international cooperation. Today, MDBs function in a world that is widely different from even a couple of decades ago. The discussions on how MDBs can be more impactful must focus on the need to revisit their approach and working methods.