3 mins in Development Finance/ wk 16
7 min readApr 29, 2021
My weekly reading list for those interested in development finance and Impact investing focused on developing countries.
IFC and World Bank
- (19.04.21) REPORT — World Bank: Limited role for LNG in shipping decarbonization | Marine Log
- (19.04.21) World Bank’s IFC to invest in Everstone’s largest fund | VCCircle
- (19.04.21) VIDEO — Developing a sustainable industrial zone in China | The World Bank
- (19.04.21) Deploying digital tools to withstand climate change in low-income countries | The World Bank
- (19.04.21) Issuance in Emerging Market Green Bonds to Reach $100 Billion by 2023, Amundi and IFC Find | IFC
- (20.04.21) MOROCCO: IFC finances studies on the recovery of industrial waste in Tangier | Afrik 21
- (20.04.21) Ethiopian Farmers Triple Coffee Yields with Sustainable Tree Stumping | The World Bank
- (20.04.21) Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project Helped Sri Lanka’s Smallholder Farmers Weather the COVID-19 Pandemic | The World Bank
- (21.04.21) IFC loan to increase Bajaj Finance’s lending to women led MSMEs | The Economic Times
- (21.04.21) Blockchain for Education Community of Practice | The World Bank
- (22.04.21) Sri Lanka, World Bank Sign Project to Improve Management of Watersheds and Water Resources | The World Bank
- (23.04.21) IFC’s Director General Confirms Support for Morocco’s Post COVID-19 Recovery | Morocco World News
ADB
- (19.04.21) ADB, Habitat for Humanity to Support Housing Microloans for Vulnerable Communities | Modern Diplomacy
- (20.04.21) Interview: Multilateralism key to challenges facing world, says ADB VP | Xinhua
- (20.04.21) ADB, AFD Reaffirm Strong Cooperation in Key Sectors, Including Climate Action | Modern Diplomacy
- (21.04.21) VIDEO — From Sludge to Fertilizer — Cleaning up on Waste in Mongolia | Asian Development Bank
- (22.04.21) ADB, The Nature Conservancy Agree to Joint Action on Nature-Positive Investments | Asian Development Bank
- (22.04.21) ADB Issues Gender Bonds in Canadian Dollars and Australian Dollars | Asian Development Bank | Asian Development Bank
- (22.04.21) Advancing Climate Action through an Urban Lens | Asian Development Bank
- (23.04.21) ADB, CD Finance Sign Loan to Support Rural Microcredit for Farmers, Entrepreneurs, and Women Borrowers | Asian Development Bank
- (23.04.21) WEBINAR RECORDING — Philippine Central Bank Governor Details Financial Digitalization Pathway to Inclusive Recovery | Asian Development Bank
- (23.04.21) Rethinking the impact of the lockdown on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the Philippines | ADB Institute
ADB / AIIB
AfDB
- (18.04.21) INTERVIEW: Egypt has opportunity to strengthen competitiveness, integration into global economy — AfDB’s Blomberg | Ahram Online
- (20.04.21) AfDB supports modernization of Morocco’s railways with €300 million | The North Africa Post
- (21.04.21) AfDB extends US$174.08mn loan to bolster Egypt’s railway safety and reliability | African Review
- (21.04.21) REPORT — New report by the African Circular Economy Alliance shines light on ‘Five Big Bets’ for circular economy | African Development Bank
- (22.04.21) Egypt’s largest solar plant, Kom Ombo, receives US$ 114 million financing package | African Development Bank
- (23.04.21) Sudan: African Development Bank Group approves proposal to clear $413 million arrears | African Development Bank
- (23.04.21) VIDEO — Leaders Summit on Climate: African Development Bank President says the continent is “ground zero” of the crisis as major economies boost climate targets | African Development Bank
- (23.04.21) VIDEO — Africa’s recovery pathway offers enormous opportunities, African Development Bank head says at EU-Africa Green Investment Forum | African Development Bank
- (23.04.21) Africa suffers worst impacts of climate change: AFDB | CGTN Africa
EIB
- (19.04.21) German, African and international political, business, development and finance share green investment best practice and solutions for sustainable development in Africa | EIB
- (20.04.21) EUR 1 billion Boost Africa initiative scales up support for thousands of young African entrepreneurs | EIB
- (22.04.21) Portuguese Presidency and EIB jointly holding EU-Africa Forum on green investment | EIB
- (22.04.21) EIB returns to dollars with SOFR tap | IFRE
- (23.04.21) The EIB Group welcomes conclusions and recommendations from the Complaints Mechanism Report towards strengthening its environmental and social standards in a project in Nepal | EIB
- (23.04.21) EIB provided EUR 5bn for new private and public investment in Africa in 2020 | Devdiscourse
- (23.04.21) Africa’s green future: sustainable, inclusive and digital | EIB
- (23.04.21) Guinea, Chad, Mali: EIB signs “green” cheque of €340 million | EIB
- (23.04.21) €330 million Team Europe backing for new Guinea-Mali 225 kV power line to provide clean and affordable energy to millions in West Africa | EIB
EBRD
- (21.04.21) EBRD president visits Cairo for key development meetings | Egypt Independent
- (21.04.21) EGYPT: Green economy at the centre of EBRD President’s visit to Cairo | Afrik 21
- (22.04.21) The philosophy of water and a greener future | EBRD
- (22.04.21) EBRD, other lenders back 200-MW solar plant in Egypt | Renewables Now
- (23.04.21) AFRY to advise EBRD on sustainable energy projects | International Water Power
- (23.04.21) EGYPT: a new metropolis joins the EBRD’s “Green Cities” programme | Afrik 21
AIIB
- (-.04.21) REPORT — AIIB Sustainable Development Bond Framework | AIIB
- (21.04.21) AIIB launches sustainable development bond framework | The Asset
- (23.04.21) AIIB releases guide on project approvals | Philstar.com
- (23.04.21) VIDEO — President of AIIB on carbon neutrality | CGTN
CDC
- (16.04.21) CDC announces the launch of Access Insights Platform, democratising open-source data | CDC Group
- (19.04.21) CDC Explains: How does CDC alleviate poverty? | CDC Group
- (22.04.21) Five ways CDC investments are having a positive impact on the planet | CDC Group
DEG
- (20.04.21) DEG financing for more capacity and climate protection | DEG
- (23.04.21) DEG re-enters Pakistan insurance market through stake in TPL Insurance | Daily Times
DFC
- (20.04.21) The case for US cooperation with India on a just transition away from coal | Brookings
- (23.04.21) DFC Achieves First Close of $100 Million Loan to WaterEquity’s Global Access Fund to Improve Access to Water and Sanitation | DFC
- (22.04.21) DFC Commits to Net Zero by 2040, Increases Climate-focused Investments | DFC
FMO
PROPARCO
- (19.04.21) French agency Proparco makes a loan for IndusInd Bank’s microfinance division | VCCircle
- (19.04.21) INDIA: USD 75m to develop the microfinance activity of IndusInd Bank and support women entrepreneurs in rural areas | Proparco
Misc Content in Development Finance
- (-.03.21) PUBLICATION — Joint Impact Indicators (JII) | HIPSO, IRIS+
- (16.03.21) Leading Impact Investors Make Progress Toward Harmonised Impact Measurement with Release of Joint Indicators | EDFI
- (19.04.21) Time to bust a widely held responsible-investing myth | Wealth Professional
- (19.04.21) Opinion: Investing in ‘deep dives’ to measure development impact | Devex
- (21.04.21) Bank Rakyat Indonesia Bags the Celent Award for Financial Inclusion | Fintech Singapore
- (21.04.21) Building the Social Justice Architecture for Impact Investing | Nonprofit Quarterly
- (22.04.21) How Digital Payments Improve Financial Inclusion | PYMNTS.com
- (22.04.21) One Thing We Often Forget About Financial Inclusion | Forbes
- (22.04.21) Opening our eyes to financial inclusion for the good of the economy | CityAM
- (23.04.21) Investing in Africa’s Future | Knowledge@Wharton
- (23.04.21) Development Financial Institution (DFI): Setting up of the National Bank for Financing and Development (NaBFID) | ORF
Misc Technology
- (18.04.21) China’s Fintech Evolves on Fast Track, Diversified Applications | Fitch Ratings
- (20.04.21) A Fintech Revolution: How The Pandemic Accelerated The Adoption Of Digital Solutions | Forbes
- (21.04.21) Ratan Tata Invests In Tata Group Logistics Tech Partner Mailit | Inc 42
- (22.04.21) Checkout.com Leads $110 Million Round for Saudi Fintech Tamara | BNN Bloomberg
- (22.04.21) Eco-friendly fintech helps users clean up the oceans as they spend | AltFi
- (23.04.21) Chinese Fintech Companies Banned From Listing On Shanghai Exchange Baystreet
Misc Gender
- (21.04.21) Avoid a major blind spot: Gender-smart investing is risk management | Greenbiz
- (24.04.21) Women are key to financial inclusion | Hindustan Times
Misc Sustainability
- (19.04.21) Not all gigajoules are created equal: ‘Greening’ the entire energy system is a fallacy within offsetting | Investment Week
- (20.04.21) ESG Investing in Sub-Saharan Africa Is Tied to Sustainable Development | Fitch Ratings
- (21.04.21) Debt Issuers Who Should Know Better Are Unsure What ESG Is | BNN Bloomberg
- (21.04.21) US Energy Trade: Powering the Global Economic Recovery | RealClearEnergy
- (21.04.21) Is Gen Z Ahead of Millennials in Terms of Eco-Investing? | Blue & Green Tomorrow
- (23.04.21) U.S. to double public climate finance to developing countries by 2024 | Reuters
- (23.04.21) US Climate Finance Plan Restricts Fossil Fuel Finance | NRDC
- (23.04.21) U.S. to double public climate finance to developing countries by 2024 | Reuters
- (23.04.21) IW Long Reads: The ethical dimension of investing | Investment Week
- (22.04.21) Biden’s $5.7 Billion Climate Vow to Developing World Draws Ire | Financial Post
- (22.04.21) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: U.S. International Climate Finance Plan | The White House
- (24.04.21) Everyone is investing in green — here’s what they are missing | TheHill
- (25.04.21)Why EU Climate Weapon Is in the Financial Fine Print | The Washington Post
- (25.04.21) Investors bank on green shoots , Invest News & Top Stories | The Straits Times
- (25.04.21) Sustainable investing takes off, but SMEs need to catch up or lose out | Moneyweb
Subscription Required
- (20.04.21) Ethiopia: Economic reforms can survive Tigray conflict, the AfDB says | The Africa Report
- (21.04.21) A call to action: Aligning gender lens investing and ESG, Wealth & Investing | The Business Times
- (21.04.21) In Pakistan, investing with a gender lens gives i2i Ventures an early-stage edge | Impact Alpha
- (22.04.21) Growing Client Interest in ESG; Dimon’s Economic and Market Outlook | Barron’s
- (21.04.21) What does it mean to be a gender-smart investor? | The Jakarta Post
- (22.04.21) ADB sells first Kangaroo and Maple gender bonds | GlobalCapital
- (22.04.21) Europe’s review of EIB and EBRD veers toward status quo | GlobalCapital
- (22.04.21) Checkout.com Leads $110 Million Round for Saudi Fintech Tamara | Bloomberg
- (23.04.21) AIIB set to jump into Kangaroo market | GlobalCapital
- (25.04.21) Why EU Climate Weapon Is in the Financial Fine Print: QuickTake | Bloomberg
Upcoming Webinar
- April 27, 2021: Ralph De Haas (EBRD) — Managerial and Financial Barriers to the Net-Zero Transition | Bank of Finland Research Institute **Abstract:** We use data on 11,233 firms across 22 emerging markets to analyze how credit constraints and low-quality firm management inhibit corporate investment in green technologies.
- April 28, 2021: Webinar for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Southern Africa | African Development Bank and Graca Machel Trust The Independent Review Mechanism of the African Development Bank Equips Southern Africa CSOs in Accountability and Governance Processes in MDB-Funded Projects
- June 22–25 : Sustainable Investment Festival — Registrations open!
If you have suggestions for articles that should be featured in future lists, please drop me a note and follow me on LinkedIn.
