2026 Q2 Database Update: Citation Record Reaches 213 with 1 New Institution Added-Latest News-The Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University (INSE)

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2026 Q2 Database Update: Citation Record Reaches 213 with 1 New Institution Added

Jul 10, 2026

In the second quarter of 2026, the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database expanded to 558 institutions across 155 countries, with one new institution added and an existing one updated with fiscal-year data from 2018 to 2024. As of June 2026, the database has garnered 213 academic citations—a clear milestone that underscores its growing role as a cornerstone for both empirical research and evidence-based policymaking in public development finance.

New Additions and Updates

Following the Global Research Network Conference (GRN) on Public Development Banks held in Clermont-Ferrand, France in May 2026, the database team received lists of potential candidate institutions from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and ODI Global. The total number of candidate institutions are 143, including 94 institutions which are already in our database with consistent information. The database team then use the qualification criteria to screen the remaining 39 candidate institutions. A closer examination reveals that over 60 percent of these institutions fail to meet the qualification criteria, primarily due to their acceptance of household deposits without sufficient evidence that such operations serve a legitimate financial inclusion purpose. As a result, 1 institution was confirmed as eligible institutions and incorporated into the PDBs and DFIs database. In addition, 1 institution already in the database renamed its name in 2021 and updated its information.

Basic profiles and relevant financial data have been collected for these two institutions. Basic information about these institutions is provided below:

No.	Code	PDB&DFI Name	Country	Levels of Ownership	Official Mandate	Total Assets (Millions USD)
1	AZ19871	Aqrarkredit Closed Joint-Stock Company Non-Bank Credit Organization	Azerbaijan	NATIONAL	FLEX	6,675
2	VU20061*	Vanuatu Rural Development Bank	Vanuatu	NATIONAL	FLEX	11

Notes:

[1] Total assets are based on the latest available data. The latest data available for AZ19871 is for the 2023 fiscal year; The latest data available for VU20061 is for the 2021 fiscal year.

[2] VU20061* is already in our database named Vanuatu Agricultural Development Bank. In the early 2021, it was renamed as the Vanuatu Rural development Bank, introducing new loan products for business field.

(Please refer to the official PDB and DFI database for more detail.)

To verify the potential inclusions and ensure the accuracy of the list updates on PDBs and DFIs, we implemented three rounds of quality control. In the first round of quality control, our research specialists conducted thorough investigations and documented detailed supporting evidence by strictly applying operational indicators of the following five qualification criteria:

1) Being a standalone entity.

2) Providing fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as the main products and services.

3) Funding sources going beyond periodic budgetary transfers.

4) Having a proactive public policy orientation.

5) Government steering of corporate strategies.

In the second round of quality control, a peer senior researcher rigorously reviewed the supporting evidence to ensure the accuracy of the identification for each included institution. In the final round of quality control, (co-) principal investigators from the PKU, AFD, and FERDI team provided the ultimate verification of the updates on the PDBs and DFIs database.

In the meantime, the collection of basic information and relevant financial indicators for fiscal years 2018–2024 has been completed for the newly added institutions in this round. The quality control procedures applied during the data collection phase are consistent with those used in the qualification assessment process, both adopting a three-round quality control mechanism to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the collected data.

Updates of the Publications Cited the PDB and DFI Database

In this quarter, our database conducted a systematic update of the publication that has cited the database primarily covering the period from June 2025 to June 2026. Citation record were collected from multiple academic sources, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Scopus, and other online indexing systems. This cross-database integration ensures consistency, comparability, and traceability of all citations.

The citation record has increased from 146 to 213. Among 67 newly-discovered publications that cite our database, 9 publications have been published in top Q1 and Q2 journals according to the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) quartile system, including Review of International Political Economy, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Sustainable Development, and Development Policy Review. Furthermore, international organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have cited our database in their flagship report. We trust that our original database can help further foster academic research and inform policy dialogue.

Please refer to the official PDB and DFI database ---- Publications for more detail.

Forthcoming Steps

Upholding a rigorous, pragmatic, and proactive work ethic, the database team will continue to regularly refresh the institutional list and systematically compile core financial data and basic institutional information. Looking ahead, we will continue to leverage digital technologies to enhance data collection efficiency and further strengthen the database's foundational quality.

Drawing on the primary data resources of this database, the team will also actively conduct academic and policy research in the field of public development finance. This will provide robust support for evidence-based decision-making and steady progress in advancing the sustainable development agenda.

To learn more, please visit our data visualization website (http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/) to register and download the database for free.

For using the information from the database, please cite: Xu, Jiajun, Régis Marodon, Xinshun Ru, Xiaomeng Ren, and Xinyue Wu. 2021. “What are Public Development Banks and Development Financing Institutions? ——Qualification Criteria, Stylized Facts and Development Trends.” China Economic Quarterly International, volume 1, issue 4: 271-294; database DOI: https://doi.org/10.18170/DVN/VLG6SN.

We welcome feedback from academia, policymakers, practitioners from PDBs and DFIs, and other stakeholders to provide constructive suggestions and fill gaps in the database. Please contact us at nsedfi@nsd.pku.edu.cn.