ABSTRACT
The multilateral development banks (MDBs) are a central part of the development assistance architecture. They are major providers of development finance and the largest MDBs, the World Bank in particular, have had an outsized influence on development thinking and discourse. There are now 30 MDBs and they have similar mandates and structures. Their structure as banks means they prioritize economic growth and markets over welfare and statist development. The two new MDBs, the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (2015) and the New Development Bank (2014) have duplicated the structures of the old MDBs, indicating that they too undergird neoliberal capitalism. Still, their founders want a larger space in the global order. MDBs are a key source of finance for countries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic but MDBs are imposing neoliberal conditions on their lending and with debt defaults a concern even prior to the pandemic, the additional debt will be problematic.
