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Economic development

Multilateral Development Banks Strengthen Collaboration and Commit to Greater Impact

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The Heads of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) Group, led by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), convened in 2025 to review progress on joint actions and chart priority areas for future work. Despite the challenges, the group made significant strides in several areas, including presenting a comprehensive joint report to the G20, enhancing transparency, and engaging with credit rating agencies. The MDBs reaffirmed their commitment to working as a system for greater impact and resolving to communicate annually about progress on their deliverables and priorities.

Key Takeaways:

  • The MDBs presented a comprehensive joint report to the G20 on the implementation of the G20 Roadmap towards Better, Bigger, and More Effective MDBs.
  • The report documented progress across institutions and at system level, detailing MDBs' achievements in areas such as increasing lending capacity, leveraging private capital, and strengthening operational collaboration.
  • The MDBs published the first "MDB Comparison Report" prepared by the Global Risk and Finance Forum (GRaFF) to enhance transparency and comparability of MDBs' financial positions.
  • The group engaged with credit rating agencies to enhance understanding of MDBs' distinctive financial models, risk frameworks, and exceptional asset quality.
  • The MDBs published the first "Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report," highlighting their contributions and collaboration in this critical sector.
  • A joint report on "Social Infrastructure in Focus: The Role of Multilateral Development Banks" was released, illustrating how MDBs support investment in health, education, housing, and water.
  • The group noted ongoing work in areas such as mobilizing private capital, coordinating on originate-to-share/distribute models, boosting financial innovations, and scaling up flagship regional initiatives.
  • The MDBs will support their countries of operations and clients meeting their strategies in the context of the upcoming COP30.

Statistics:

  • 41 – The number of African countries where the African Development Bank Group is on the ground.
  • 54 – The number of regional member states of the African Development Bank Group.
  • 2024 – The year the MDBs' Viewpoint Note was published.
  • 28 June 2025 – The date of the last MDBs meeting in Paris.
  • 2025 – The year the Council of Europe Development Bank chairs the MDBs Group.
  • 30 November 2025 – The date of the upcoming COP30, to be held in Belém, Brazil.

Sources:

  • "Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report": https://apo-opa.co/4ooPoJB
  • "Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report: https://apo-opa.co/3Wc1GZS
  • "MDB Comparison Report": https://apo-opa.co/4qez0x2
  • "G20 Roadmap towards Better, Bigger, and More Effective MDBs": https://apo-opa.co/4om6acd
  • "Global Emerging Markets Risk Database (GEMs)": https://apo-opa.co/4oqcuzu

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