Briefing papersMarch 2020Stephany Griffith-Jones and Dirk Willem te VeldeKristalina Georgieva (Managing Director, IMF) and David Malpass (President, World Bank Group) at a press conference on the Covid-19 response, 3 March 2020. Photo: World Bank / Grant EllisKey messagesDevelopment finance institutions (DFIs) are mandated by their shareholders to provide finance to the private sector (usually at commercial terms, but subsidised implicitly), crowd in private sector finance and have a development impact.While DFIs aim to be additional to the market, they have not been sufficiently counter-cyclical in past crises. That has to change, as poor country firms and their workers now face major hardship. Today’s crisis is larger than those in the past.We suggest shareholders provide regulatory and financial space for DFIs to fast-track new investments, allow for some repayment postponements and announce a Bounce Back Better facility, to save companies and workers from bankruptcy and to protect previous transformation efforts so that the bounce-back is faster and better.Read the research Development finance institutions and the coronavirus crisisSee more:economic policyfinancial crisisinvestmentjobs and livelihoodsGlobal
