The first quarter of 2022 update of the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database includes the basic profile of 26 newly identified PDBs and DFIs, as well as their total assets for the fiscal year 2019. This brings the total number of PDBs and DFIs from 527 to over 550 institutions worldwide. The number of countries  and economies with currently active PDBs and DFIs increases from 150 to 160. 

 

The Institute of New Structural Economics (INSE) of Peking University initiated to build the world’s first comprehensive database for PDBs and DFIs in September 2017 and collaborated with the French Development Agency (AFD) to strengthen the database. This project’s core objectives are supporting rigorous academic research and strengthening the coalition of PDBs and DFIs in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The joint efforts culminated in the second edition of the Finance in Common Summit, with the presentation of a flagship research paper mapping PDBs and DFIs worldwide, and the release of a data visualization website.  

 

INSE and AFD have together continued to identify missing PDBs and DFIs and collect their basic profiles and financial indicators based on five qualification criteria:

 

- being a stand-alone entity

- providing fund-reflow-seeking financial instruments as the main products and services

- funding sources going beyond periodic budgetary transfers

- having a proactive public policy-oriented mandate

- having government steering of corporate strategies

 

In the first quarter of 2022, we have consistently applied operational indicators of these five qualification criteria, documented supporting evidence from official sources and conducted case-by-case expert verification of borderline cases. Our goal is to avoid arbitrary judgement in the identification process and to ensure the traceability of the supporting evidence.

 

We implemented three rounds of quality control to collect information on the newly added PDBs and DFIs. In the first round, a researcher cross-checked the availability, accuracy and standardization of each data point and its supporting evidence and identified pending issues that required further verification. In the second round, a peer senior researcher double-checked a sample of 15% of data points and solved pending issues. To provide final verification of the pending issues, the co-principal investigators from the INSE and AFD conducted the final round of quality control.

 

Forthcoming steps

 

We will update the list of PDBs and DFIs on a quarterly basis, based on rigorous qualification criteria, to incorporate newly identified PDBs and DFIs and to eliminate those that no longer qualify as PDBs and DFIs due to commercialization or restructuring. By the end of April 2022, we will systematically collect and update PDBs and DFIs total assets for the 2020 fiscal year. Finally, INSE and AFD have joined hands to identify the actual activities pursued by PDBs and DFIs to achieve their public policy-serving objectives. A new flagship report will be released in advance of the third Finance in Common Summit in October 2022.

 

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

 

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.

 

To access the appendixes, please scan the QR code below.