Enhancing Multilateral Development Banks' Local Currency Financing
- Date: Monday 28 April 2025, 13:00 – 14:00
- Location: Online
- Type: Online, Alumni, Ideas in Practice
- Cost: Free
Join us to explore pathways for multilateral development banks (MDBs) to scale up local currency financing and effectively manage financial risks.
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Scaling up financing for development is crucial to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The financing gap to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is estimated at USD 4 trillion annually. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are positioned to play a critical role in bridging this gap. However, increasing the scale of financing alone is insufficient to ensure debt sustainability. Many LMICs remain heavily exposed to foreign currency risk, which can amplify debt vulnerabilities and lead to significant increases in debt servicing costs when exchange rates fluctuate.
Local currency financing by MDBs can significantly mitigate these vulnerabilities by reducing currency mismatches on LMIC balance sheets, as recognised by institutions such as the United Nations World Bank and G20. However, there has been little systematic analysis of how MDBs can scale up these efforts, and concrete policy solutions remain underdeveloped.
Our webinar presents findings from an extensive study funded by the MDB Challenge Fund, addressing this critical gap. It examines current local currency financing practices by MDBs, identifies barriers – including legal, regulatory, currency and credit risk challenges – and offers targeted policy recommendations to strengthen MDBs’ local currency financing capacities.
This event includes presentations by the research team, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Policymakers, MDB officials, development finance practitioners, academics, and stakeholders interested in sustainable finance, debt management and economic development are all welcome to attend.
Event programme:
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13:00 |
Overview of the report, key barriers to MDB local currency financing, and legal and regulatory matters - Annina Kaltenbrunner, Professor of Global Economics at Leeds University Business School |
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13:15 |
Credit and exchange rate risk analysis and policy recommendations - Dr Bruno Bonizzi, Associate Professor at Hertfordshire Business School |
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13:30 |
Audience question-and-answer session with all authors of the report Annina Kaltenbrunner, Professor of Global Economics, Leeds University Business School Dr Bruno Bonizzi, Associate Professor, Hertfordshire Business School Dr Karina Patrício Ferreira Lima, Senior Lecturer in International Financial Law, University of Leeds Karsten Kohler, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Leeds Guilherme Klein Martins, Lecturer in Economics, University of Leeds Ivan Weigandi, Postgraduate Researcher, University of Leeds |
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14:00 |
Webinar close |
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Grace Carter at Leeds University Business School.