What are public development banks and development financing institutions ? ——qualification criteria, stylized facts and development trends

Abstract

Public development banks and development financing institutions are experiencing renaissance worldwide, but systematic academic research is patchy. The bottleneck mainly boils down to the lack of data, which has constrained the meaningful research on the rationales of establishing PDBs and DFIs and reasons for their successes and failures. To fill the gap, we aim to answer the fundamental question of “what PDBs and DFIs are” by proposing five qualification criteria, i.e., being a stand-alone entity, using the fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as main products and services; funding sources going beyond the periodic budgetary transfers; the proactive public policy orientation, and government steering of their corporate strategy. Furthermore, we have systematically identified over 500 PDBs and DFIs that meet the five qualification criteria worldwide. Based on the first-hand data collection, we present the stylized facts (including ownership structure, official mandate, geographical scope of operation, asset size, and income groups) and development trends of worldwide PDBs and DFIs. We hope that this first global database on PDBs and DFIs can lay the foundation for the original academic and policy research.