IMF-WBG Annual Meetings 2025 - Development Committee (Washington DC, 16 October 2025)

As prepared for delivery

The world faces mounting pressures for stronger growth, more jobs and greater resilience — challenges that no Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) can confront alone. MDBs are responding with renewed determination by acting as a system.

While MDBs have always worked together, we have intensified our collaboration in recent years, spurred by the G20 and driven by the leadership of the Heads of MDBs Group, an informal forum bringing together the ten main MDBs.

In 2024, the Group issued a joint Viewpoint Note, highlighting priority areas for action, which also informed the “G20 Roadmap toward Better, Bigger, and More Effective MDBs”. In 2025, with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) as Chair, this collaboration has remained tight and delivered further tangible results.

Reforms on Capital Adequacy Frameworks and innovations have given MDBs more headroom, bringing the total additional lending capacity for the next decade to over US$650 billion. MDBs have also signed a number of reliance agreements among themselves to reduce the administrative burden on clients and accelerate project preparation, so that resources move faster.

Collective efforts to mobilise additional private capital for development are also advancing. The Global Emerging Markets Risk Database is publishing more disaggregated credit risk statistics to help attract private sector investment.

In September, MDBs released their first Comparison Report, which is invaluable for comparing their financial positions and, hence, provides enhanced transparency across institutions.

The Development Committee’s paper, “Foundations for Growth and Jobs”, rightly emphasises that investing in health and education helps generate high-quality employment, boost productivity and unleash the potential of future generations. In the same vein, MDBs have just published a joint report, which underscores the fundamental importance of social infrastructure investment for jobs, growth and resilience, while highlighting each MDB’s contribution in their respective countries and regions of operation, as well as their collective efforts.

In line with the focus of the Development Committee paper on investments that restore and preserve nature, MDBs have been working collectively to further mainstream this objective within their activity. They have also scaled up climate finance, reaching a record US$137 billion in 2024, with a 10% increase compared to the previous year.

The Heads of MDBs Group has delivered on its commitment to the G20. In September, the Group produced its first Report on the implementation of the G20 “Roadmap”, which was welcomed by Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors this week. The report, which highlights the progress made by MDBs both individually and collectively, stands as an important tool for shareholders to track MDB achievements on the priority areas that the G20 has set, and will set, for them.

Today’s epochal challenges require MDBs to deliver greater impact with urgency in spite of a global context of uncertainty and volatility. It is a tall order. But with their efforts working as a system and in lockstep with their shareholders, MDBs are up to the responsibility. The world’s citizens, communities and future generations expect and deserve nothing less.