De-risking or risk shifting? The World Bank's proposed strategy to bridge the 'infrastructure gap'.
In recent years, multilateral development banks (MDBs), led by the World Bank, have placed a strong emphasis on finding resources for a so-called infrastructure ‘financing gap’, with a particular focus on leveraging private finance.
However, this strategy is at odds with the historical experience of developed and successful developing countries, and the current practice in emerging markets, where infrastructure is predominantly publicly financed. The Bank’s disregard for these successful practices in infrastructure finance places it at odds with the findings of a Eurodad report detailing the essential criteria of an ideal public development bank as conceptualised by civil society and other experts.
The briefing has been originally published on the Bretton Woods Project website.