MDB reforms in the slow lane: Findings from a Global Survey of Experts, 2024
This paper is authored by Deepak Mishra, Tanu M Goyal, Havishaye Puri, ICRIER.
The current set of multilateral development banks (MDBs) needs to become bigger, bolder and better, to address the global challenges of the 21st century. The Independent Experts Group (IEG) established under the Indian G20 presidency, made 30 recommendations to make MDBs operationally effective (“better”), mitigate the financial risks facing their borrowers (“bolder”), and triple their lending capacity (“bigger”). Although the G20 has addressed MDB reforms before, the effort under the Indian presidency marked a significant push for comprehensive, transformational change, including a clear implementation timeline. Given the long-term nature of MDB reforms, it is crucial to track progress as well as capture the perception of stakeholders on the pace and scope of their reforms. Thus, a global survey of experts — comprising from academia, think tanks, CSOs, government, private sector and existing and former employees of MDBs — was carried out, to capture the perception of experts on the current state of MDB reforms. This survey, led by researchers from the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), in close coordination with Brookings, the Centre for Global Development (CGD), and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), was carried out in February and March 2024. The questionnaire was based on the IEG recommendations and had 30 questions grouped under five components where reforms were seen as essential to streamline the transformation of the MDB system, namely, vision and mission, making MDBs better banks, bolder bank and bigger bank, and establishing a monitoring mechanism. While existing surveys have focused on developmental impact of MDB’s operation, this is the first survey that seeks the views of experts on MDB reform process agreed by the G20. The online survey questionnaire was sent out to 350 experts worldwide, many of whom were previously consulted for the IEG reports. In total, 69 responses were received from 15 countries, representing eight professional affiliation categories. Of the respondents, 55% were from Part I (donor) countries and 45% from Part II (EMDEs) countries. Nearly one-third of the respondents were “insiders”, which include the current employees of MDBs, Board of Directors of MDBs and Executive Directors of MDBs, and the remaining two-thirds classified themselves as “outsiders”, namely those who have no direct or indirect affiliation with the MDBs. Regarding familiarity with MDB reforms, particularly the IEG’s recommendations, 68% of respondents reported being highly familiar, while 32% indicated a moderate to low level of familiarity.
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This paper is authored by Deepak Mishra, Tanu M Goyal, Havishaye Puri, ICRIER.
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