The fourth quarter of 2022 update of the Public Development Banks (PDBs) and Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) database includes adding 9 newly identified PDBs and DFIs with their basic information and financial data indicators, as well as deleting 3 PDBs and DFIs that no longer meet the qualification criteria. Upon the update, the total number of PDBs and DFIs increases from 522 to 528 institutions worldwide. The total number of countries and economies with currently active PDBs and DFIs is 155. The aggregate total assets in the year of 2020 adds up to 23 trillion dollars.

 

The Institute of New Structural Economics (INSE) of Peking University initiated to build of the world’s first comprehensive database for PDBs and DFIs in September 2017. The project aims to fill the gap in the data collection of PDBs and DFIs, lead original academic research, and maximize the effectiveness of PDBs and DFIs in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since then, INSE has cooperated with the French Development Agency (AFD) to improve the qualification criteria of DFIs, consolidate the foundation, and expand the applications of the database. The joint efforts were widely recognized at the third edition of the Finance in Common Summit. The summit focused on the critical role of PDBs and DFIs in promoting the economic structural transformation, which effectively enhances the impact of the database.

 

To ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the list of PDBs and DFIs, INSE and AFD have together continued to identify missing PDBs and DFIs and eliminate the institutions that no longer meet the five qualification criteria below:

 

1) being a stand-alone entity

2) proving 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-oriented mandate

5) having government steering of corporate strategies

 

To build a reliable list of PDBs and DFIs during the fourth quarter of 2022, our research team has strictly adhered to the following three principles:

 

1) Conceptual clarity of qualification criteria

2) Implementation consistency of operational indicators

3) Case-by-case verification of borderline cases

 

In terms of the quality control, we have taken the following three steps. First, we consistently applied operational indicators of those five qualifications criteria and documented supporting evidence for each newly added or deleted institution from official sources. Secondly, experts conducted case-by-case verification of borderline cases and provided their opinions on pending issues. Finally, the co-principal investigators from the INSE and AFD conducted quality control, ensuring the reliability and accuracy of the finally published list of PDBs and DFIs.

 

Forthcoming steps：

 

We will continue to periodically update the list of PDBs and DFIs and systematically collect their basic information and financial data. In 2023, we plan to further deploy the use of digital technologies, such as natural language processing, to improve the efficiency and quality of first-hand data collection.

 

To learn more, please visit our data visualization website (http://www.dfidatabase.pku.edu.cn/) 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.

 

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.