3 mins in Development Finance/ wk 23
6 min readJun 16, 2021
My weekly reading list for those interested in development finance and Impact investing focused on developing countries.
IFC and World Bank
- (-.06.21) Wind Power Fuels Green Growth in Vietnam | IFC
- (07.06.21) World Bank Approves $50 Million to Continue Improving Critical Urban Services in Yemen | The World Bank
- (07.06.21) REPORT: Universal Access to Sustainable Energy Will Remain Elusive Without Addressing Inequalities | The World Bank
- (07.06.21) IFC Launches its DigiLab Program in the Middle East and Africa to Help Financial Institutions Improve Digital Services | IFC
- (07.06.21) REPORT: Uganda Economic Update 17th Edition : From Crisis to Green Resilient Growth — Investing in Sustainable Land Management and Climate Smart Agriculture (English) | The World Bank
- (08.06.21) World Bank sees 5.6% global growth in 2021, best since 1973 | Associated Press
- (08.06.21) Global economy set for fastest recession recovery in 80 years, says World Bank | World Bank | The Guardian
- (09.06.21) Mozambique: World Bank Approves $150 Million to Improve Incomes and Resilience in the Rural Economy | The World Bank
- (09.06.21) VIDEO: The Win-Win of Forest Protection: Enhancing Lives While Slowing Climate Change | The World Bank
- (09.06.21) IFC Promotes Vietnam’s PPE Production Capacity to Boost Nation’s Resilience to COVID-19 | IFC
- (10.06.21) New Financing to Help Indonesia Achieve a Deeper, More Efficient, and More Resilient Financial Sector | The World Bank
- (10.06.21) World Bank Group Provides $465 Million to Expand Energy Access and Renewable Energy Integration in West Africa | The World Bank
- (10.06.21) Education Above All Foundation and World Bank Partner to Enroll 35,000 Out-of-School Children in Djibouti | The World Bank
- (11.06.21) World Bank Approves $60 Million to Strengthen Nepal’s Higher Education | The World bank
- (11.06.21) Building Morocco’s resilience to natural and climate-related disasters: World Bank additional financing to protect against risks | The World Bank
- (11.06.21) Botswana’s Economic Recovery Efforts Gets $250 Million Boost |The World Bank
- (11.06.21) VIDEO: Kenya Receives $750 million Boost for COVID-19 Recovery Efforts | The World Bank
ADB
- (06.06.21) ADB’s support helping restore Pakistan’s ecosystem | Pakistan Observer
- (07.06.21) ADB, China Everbright Environment form Strategic Partnership for Ocean Health in Asia | India Education
- (07.06.21) ADB Support for Infrastructure Yields Positive Results in Bangladesh; Climate Change Should be New Priority: Independent Evaluation Report | Asian Development Bank
- (08.06.21) ADB’s Bans on Financing Dirty Fuel Don’t Go Far Enough | Foreign Policy
- (10.06.21) Why should the Asian Development Bank care about sustainable cooling? | Eco-Business
AfDB
- (07.06.21) AfDB grants Mozambican enterprise developer $1m grant | Engineering News
- (07.06.21) African Development Bank trains experts from development finance institutions on climate finance action strategy and management | African Development Bank
- (07.06.21) Angola: Africell secures US$205 mln to start operations in the country |Macau Business
- (08.06.21) AFDB agrees loans for Malagarasi hydropower plant, Tanzania | International Water Power
- (08.06.21) African Development Bank Sells First Kangaroo Bond | SWFI
- (10.06.21) Africa: AfDB Says $10bn Covid-19 Fund Boosting Africa’s Recovery | allAfrica
- (10.06.21) Liberia: “Align ‘Country Paper’ to Economic Diversification” — Min. Tweah Urges AfDB | FrontPageAfrica
EIB
- (07.06.21) The EIB won’t become a climate bank until it fully stops supporting fossil fuels | Climate Home News
- (08.06.21) GUIDE: The EIB shares circular solutions to preserve the oceans in its new Ocean Plastics Reduction Guide | EIB
EBRD
AIIB
- (07.06.21) Applying Best Environmental and Social Practices to AIIB Projects | AIIB
- (11.06.21) Asia’s first fully-fledged infrastructure securitization platform receives USD60-M commitment from AIIB | AIIB
CDC
- (08.06.21) CDC announces first MFI and NBFI risk sharing facility | Africa Global Funds
- (08.06.21) CDC Group provides $50m risk sharing facility to Absa to support lending to MSMEs and households through Microfinance and Non-Bank Financial Institutions in Africa | CDC Group
DFC
- (08.06.21) Tunisia: Entrepreneurship — Tamweeli Meetup Tour Launches in Regions | allAfrica
- (09.06.21) DFC Approves Nearly $873 Million in New Investments to Advance Development, COVID-19 Response | DFC
- (12.06.21) DFC Announces Support for New Build Back Better World Initiative, Bolstering Global Infrastructure Investments | DFC
Norfund
- (05.06.21) Norfund takes board seat at NDB | The Island
- (07.06.21) Fintech firm Amartha bags $7.5 million from Norwegian fund | The Jakarta Post
PROPARCO
- (10.06.21) Proparco and Ecobank Liberia have signed a USD 10M Trade Finance guarantee | Proparco
- (10.06.21) IVORY COAST : Proparco and EAIF partner to finance the first biomass plant with grid injection in Africa | Proparco
PROPARCO / CDC / JICA / JBIC / DFC / FinDev / DEG / CDP / Swedfund / FinnFund / FMO / SIFEM / IFU / BIO / EIB / IFC / EBRD / OeEB
- (09.06.21) Global gender finance initiative sets ambitious new $15 billion fundraising goal after securing more than double its original $3 billion target | CDC Group
- (09.06.21) VIDEO: 2X Challenge — Invest in women, invest in the world | EIB
UN
Misc Content in Development Finance
- (07.06.21) Investors reassess priorities in wake of pandemic, UBS says | The National
- (06.06.21) VIDEO: Unitus Ventures’ Will Poole talks impact investing in a pandemic and touching over 12M low-income lives in India | Your Story
- (07.06.21) REPORT: Mobile Money Is Driving Financial Inclusion, but Beware the Risks | FTI Consulting — JDSupra
- (07.06.21) Impact investing reaches double digit growth in Switzerland | IPE
- (08.06.21) The One Thing We Are Still Getting Wrong with Financial Inclusion | International Banker
- (08.06.21) PODCAST: Impact investors seek to do well by doing good | BAI
- (09.06.21) Why Family Offices And Private Investors Are The Cornerstones Of Impact Investing’s Most Promising Innovations | Forbes
- (10.06.21) Nigeria: new data from EFInA shows financial inclusion growth ｜ GOV.UK
- (10.06.21) When will emerging markets join the post-pandemic recovery? | Funds Europe
- (11.06.21) How DeFi Paves the Way for Financial Inclusion By DailyCoin | Investing
- (11.06.21) How do you measure the impact of an impact investment? | Advisor’s Edge
- (13.06.21) Tips on investing in ethical companies, Invest News & Top Stories | The Straits Times
Misc Technology
- (-.03.21) REPORT: Artificial Intelligence and Islamic Finance: A Catalyst for Financial Inclusion | Islamic Research and Training Institute
- (07.06.21) Have we come to the end of the ‘fintech vs big bank’ culture war? | Sifted
- (07.06.21) IsDBI issues Report on Role of Artificial Intelligence in Enhancing Financial Inclusion | Africanews
- (07.06.21) Financial inclusion is nothing without security: finding a better balance for prepaid cards | TechNative
- (07.06.21) Technology: Introducing ‘Impact-as-a-Service’ — software that helps companies make a social impact | Fortune
- (08.06.21) Why Fintech Brands Have the Trust of Consumers, Even if ‘Fintech’ Doesn’t | Morning Consult
- (09.06.21) BukuWarung, a fintech for Indonesian MSMEs, scores $60M Series A led by Valar and Goodwater | TechCrunch
- (11.06.21) FinTech companies bank on social media to promote financial literacy {Business Africa} | Africanews
Misc Gender
- (07.06.21) How to improve fintech’s gender problem | AltFi
- (10.06.21) Global gender finance initiative sets ambitious new $15bn fundraising goal | Africa Global Funds
Misc Sustainability
- (07.06.21) Data a ‘serious problem’ in ESG investing, says manager | Financial Times Adviser
- (07.06.21) Opinion: We can no longer pursue profit without considering SDG impacts | Devex
- (08.06.21) Future Returns: Moving From Sustainable Investing to Systems Change | Barron’s
- (10.06.21) BlackRock’s Larry Fink Says Sustainable Investing Growth Is a ‘Tectonic Shift’ | Barron’s
- (11.06.21) ESG interest on the rise, but so is fear of greenwashing | Investment Executive
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- (07.06.21) Two Fintech Deals Add to Startup Funding Rush in Pakistan | Bloomberg
- (06.06.21) Letter: Africa’s project finance model is stuck in the 1990s | Financial Times
- (10.06.21) Africa’s telecom sector is seeing a boom in investment | Quartz Africa
- (10.06.21) U.K. Rules on Green Investing Aim to Be More Strict Than EU | Bloomberg
- (12.06.21) The G7 sketches a development-finance initiative to counter China’s | The Economist
Upcoming Webinar
- June 22–25, 2021 : Sustainable Investment Festival — Registrations open! Register now: Sustainable Investment Festival attracts stellar line-up of fund managers and industry leaders
If you have suggestions for articles that should be featured in future lists, please drop me a note and follow me on LinkedIn.
