Do We Still Need Regional Development Banks Today (and Tomorrow)?

The need for regional development banks (RDB) is a straightforward question that does not have a straightforward answer. The authors assess the arguments claiming that RDB are called to play a substantive role—in fact an increasingly substantive role—in future development. They summarize these arguments in the following hypothesis: if RDB did not exist, we should re-invent them. This hypothesis is assessed against a critical developmental challenge affecting today’s world and most likely to remain in the future: the massive mobilization of resources required for financing of huge gaps in sustainable infrastructure investments that exist in the developing world. This exercise is followed by a discussion on what conditions need be in place for RDB to be truly playing a pivotal role in confronting such challenge—and perhaps others—in the future.