The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: What Can It Learn From, and Perhaps Teach To, the Multilateral Development Banks?

Abstract

This report explores what the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) can learn about infrastructure finance from the experience of the 2 largest Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs): the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB). This practical and technical analysis is complemented by a broader exploration of what the AIIB could contribute to our understanding of development finance over time. Given the fact that it will be largely funded by developing and emerging countries, and these countries will remain in a voting majority, the AIIB is a valuable addition to the existing development finance landscape, which is comprised of institutions drawn from a similar historical process, and has traditionally been dominated by today’s developed countries, notably the United States, Europe and Japan. Establishing the AIIB as a ‘knowledge bank’, to which other developing and emerging countries can turn for a fresh perspective on how to finance development, would inject a healthy dose of plurality into the existing landscape